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BY 

Sir WALTER SCOTT 

TEN SELECTIONS FOR SCHOOL READING 

& 

UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 

NEW YORK: 43-47 East Tenth Street 

BOSTON: 352 Washington Street 

NEW ORLEANS: 7 14 and 716 Canal Street 

Published Monthly. Yearly Subscriptions, $ 

Entered as aecond-elaaa matter at the Poal Office at New York, N. T. 






The Standard Text- Books on Geography 


Maupy’s New Elementary Geography* 
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These books were not compiled from encyclopedias, but are 
♦he live work of America’s greatest scientist, Matthew P. 
Maury, LL.D., a distinguished officer in the Navy ; first 
Superintendent of the United States Observatory ; discoverer 


of the North Atln.nt.if*. Platoon • ewi ontKn. ft# * 

he Physical 
sept in har- 

mony wil 

LIBRARY OP CONGRESS. 

The! 

? C~ 

Chap^Li- Copyright No. 

thmetic 

Vei 

Shelf. 

ietic. 

Vei 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

k 


These books, only recently published, embody all that is 
best in modern methods. Their characteristic is their teaching 
power. An able educator writes of them : 

“ The singular teaching power of the examples*as displayed 
in the skillful grading of each group not only into * oral ’ and 
* written,’ but in the groups within the groups, each subordinate 
group serving as a sort of drill table for clearing and fixing 
some phase of the thinking and work, — it is just in this all 
important point, skillful teaching by examples , — that the books 
seem to me to excel.” 


UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

NEW YORK and NEW ORLEANS. 



STANDARD LITERATURE SERIES 


Tales of a Grandfather 


by y 

Sir WALTER SCOTT 

I) 


TEN SELECTIONS FOR SCHOOL READING 




& rrettlVED 


UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 
NEW YORK ♦ BOSTON ♦ NEW ORLEANS 

*[ \*srC{%— 1 


J3L57 



*** 1944 


Copyright, 1897, by 

UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 



PREFATORY NOTE. 


The “ Tales of a Grandfather” is a History of Scotland written by Sir 
Walter Scott. It was at first intended for the instruction and entertain- 
ment of the author’s grandson, John Hugh Lockhart, a boy of five or six 
years of age — hence the title of the work. 

But it was soon found that the “Tales” would be useful for other 
readers, and so the book was published. It quickly became popular. 
Its reception, says one of Scott’s biographers, “was more rapturous 
than that of any of Sir Walter’s works since ‘Ivanhoe.’ He had solved 
for the first time the problem of narrating history so as at once to excite 
and gratify the curiosity of youth, and please and instruct the wisest of 
mature minds. The popularity of the book has grown with every year 
that has since elapsed ; it is equally prized in the library, the schoolroom, 
and the nursery ; it is adopted as the happiest of manuals not only in 
Scotland, but wherever the English tongue is spoken ; nay, it is to be 
seen in the hands of old and young all over the civilized world.” 

With regard to the style of the “Tales,” which to some might have 
seemed difficult for young readers, the view of Sir Walter Scott himself 
is given as follows in his preface to the work : — 

“The Author may here mention that, after commencing his task in a 
manner obvious to the most limited capacity, of which the Tale of Mac- 
beth is an example, he was led to take a different view of the subject, by 
finding that a style considerably more elevated was more interesting to 
his juvenile reader. There is no harm, but, on the contrary, there is 
benefit, in presenting a child with ideas somewhat beyond his easy and 
immediate comprehension. The difficulties thus offered, if not too great 
or too frequent, stimulate curiosity and encourage exertion.” 

Referring to the same subject, the author, in his autobiography, thus 
observes in relation to his own experience in the first reading of Shake- 
speare : 

“ I rather suspect that children derive impulses of a powerful and im- 
portant kind in hearing things which they cannot entirely comprehend ; 
and therefore that to write down to children’s understanding is a mistake ; 
set them on the scent, and let them puzzle it out.” 


2 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

Sir Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh, August 15, 1771. On both 
his father’s and his mother’s side he was related to several of those 
historic Border families whose warlike memories gave him material for 
so many of his romances. His delicate health in childhood caused him 
to spend much time in the open air on his grandfather’s farm. This 
doubtless influenced his later life. His lameness made him a great 
reader, and he reveled in fairy stories, romances, and Eastern tales. 

He received his education at the High School and University of Edin- 
burgh. His record at these institutions was better as a story-teller than 
as a student. Although destined for the law, he readily turned his atten- 
tion to literature. Romance, poetry, and history were more attractive to 
him than law books. 

His first works were long ballads : “The Lay of the Last Minstrel,” 
“Marmion,” “The Lady of the Lake,” “Don Roderick,” “ Rokeby,” 
“Triermain,” etc. These poems were received with rapturous enthu- 
siasm, and Scott became the literary lion of London and Edinburgh. 
In picturesque narrative verse Scott has never been surpassed. 

Later, when his popularity as a poet declined, he turned to the writing 
of his novels, which are founded upon Scottish, English, and continental 
history. He also wrote other romances that may be called “personal,” 
being founded upon life or family legend. These deal, for the most 
part, with purely Scottish scenery and character. 

His first novel, “Waverley,” was published in 1814 without the 
author’s name. Many readers, however, shrewdly guessed Scott’s secret. 
“Guy Mannering,” “ Old Mortality,” “Rob Roy,” “ The Heart of Mid- 
lothian,” “Ivanhoe,” “ Kenilworth,” etc., rapidly followed in the next 
seventeen years, till his novels reached twenty-nine in number, forming 
the series of wonderful fictions known as the “Waverley Novels.” 

In 1820 the Crown conferred a baronetcy on the distinguished author. 
Five years later, the publishing house in which, some years before, Scott 
had become a partner, failed, and with its downfall the novelist became 
a bankrupt. The firm’s liabilities amounted to nearly £150,000. Though 
overwhelmed by his misfortune, Scott nobly set himself to make good 
the loss to the creditors, and in two years he paid off £40,000. The 
anxiety and increased labor, however, cost him his life, for in 1830 he 
had a stroke of paralysis, and though he lived on for two years further, 
his power of work was gone, and he passed away at his loved Abbots- 
ford, on the 21st of September, 1832. His remains were buried in Dry- 
burgh Abbey. 


CONTENTS, 


INTRODUCTION. 

PAGE 

I. Scotland and England . v 5 

II. The Feudal System 11 

CHAPTER I. 

The Story of Macbeth 17 

CHAPTER II. 

Sir William Wallace 27 

CHAPTER III. 

Robert the Bruce 41 

Bruce and the Spider 49 

Adventures and Escapes 51 

CHAPTER IY. 

Douglas and Randolph 63 

The Perilous Castle 66 

How Randolph Scaled the Wall 68 

Farmer Binnock’s Stratagem 71 

How Douglas Captured Roxburgh 73 

The Pass of Ben Cruachen 75 


4 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER V. 


PAGE 

Battle of Bannockburn 77 

Randolph Redeems His Fault 80 

A Terrible Blow 81 

King Edward’s Army Destroyed 82 


CHAPTER VI. 


Death of Bruce and the Good Lord James . . .85 

Rough-Footed Scots 86 

A Lesson in the Art of War 88 

The Fisherman and the Fox 89 

Bruce’s Dying Request 91 

Origin of the Name Lockhart 94 

Discovery of Bruce’s Remains 95 


CHAPTER VII. 

The Goodman of Ballengiech 96 


CHAPTER VIII. 


Witches and Witchcraft 


100 


INTRODUCTION. 


I. 

SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND. 

England is the southern, and Scotland is the northern 
part of the celebrated island called Great Britain. England 
is greatly larger than Scotland, and the land is much richer, 
and produces better crops. There are also a great many more 
men in England, and both the gentlemen and the country 
people are more wealthy, and have better food and clothing 
there than in Scotland. The towns, also, are much more 
numerous, and more populous. 

Scotland, on the contrary, is full of hills, and huge moors 
and wildernesses, which hear no corn, and afford but little 
food for flocks of sheep or herds of cattle. But the level 
ground that lies along the great rivers is more fertile, and 
produces good crops. The natives of Scotland are accus- 
tomed to live more hardily in general than those of England. 
The cities and towns are fewer, smaller, and less full of in- 
habitants than in England. But as Scotland possesses great 
quarries of stone, the houses are commonly built of that 
material, which is more lasting, and has a grander effect to the 
eye than the bricks used in England. 

Now, as these two nations live in the different ends of the 
same island, and are separated by large and stormy seas from 
all other parts of the world, it seems natural that they should 
have been friendly to each other, and that they should have 
lived as one people under the same government. Accordingly, 
above two hundred years ago, the King of Scotland becoming 
King of England, the two nations have ever since then been 
joined in one great kingdom, which is called Great Britain: 


6 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


But, before this happy union of England and Scotland, 
there were many long, cruel, and bloody wars, between the two 
nations; and, far from helping or assisting each other, as 
became good neighbors and friends, they did each other all 
the harm and injury that they possibly could, by invading 
each other’s territories, killing their subjects, burning their 
towns, and taking their wives and children prisoners. This 
lasted for many, many hundred years; and I am about to 
tell you the reason why the land was so divided. 

A long time since, eighteen hundred years ago and more, 
there was a brave and warlike people, called the Romans, 
who undertook to conquer the whole world, and subdue all 
countries, so as to make their own city of Rome the head of 
all the nations upon the face of the earth. And after con- 
quering far and near, at last they came to Britain, and made a 
great war upon the inhabitants, called the British, or Britons, 
whom they found living there. 

The Romans, who were a very brave people, and well armed, 
beat the British, and took possession of almost all the flat part 
of the island, which is now called England, and also of a part 
of the south of Scotland. But they could not make their way 
into the high northern mountains of Scotland, where they 
could hardly get anything to feed their soldiers, and where 
they met with much opposition from the inhabitants. The 
Romans, therefore, gave up all attempts to subdue this im- 
penetrable country, and resolved to remain satisfied with that 
level ground, of which they had already possessed themselves. 

Then the wild people of Scotland, whom the Romans had 
not been able to subdue, began to come down from their 
mountains, and make inroads upon that part of the country 
which had been conquered by the Romans. 

These people of the northern parts of Scotland were not 
one nation, but divided in two, called the Scots and the Piets; 
they often fought against each other, but they always joined 
together against the Romans, and the Britons who had been 


INTRODUCTION. 


7 


subdued by them. At length the Romans thought they would 
prevent these Piets and Scots from coming into the southern 
part of Britain, and laying it waste. 

For this purpose they built a very long wall between the 
one side of the island and the other, so that none of the Scots 
or Piets should come into the country on the south side of the 
wall; and they made towers on the wall, and camps, with 
soldiers, from place to place; so that, at the least alarm, the 
soldiers might hasten to defend any part of the wa]l which 
was attacked. This first Roman wall was built between the 
two great friths of the Clyde and the Forth , 1 just where the 
island of Britain is at the narrowest, and some parts of it are 
to be seen at this day. 

This wall defended the Britons for a time, and the Scots 
and Piets were shut out from the fine rich land, and enclosed 
within their own mountains. But they were very much dis- 
pleased with this, and assembled in great numbers, and 
climbed over the wall, in spite of all that the Romans could 
do to oppose them. A man, named Grahame, is said to have 
been the first soldier who got over; and the common people 
still call the remains of the wall Grahame’s dike. 

Now the Romans, finding that this first wall could not keep 
out the barbarians (for so they termed the Piets and the 
Scots), thought they would give up a large portion of the 
country to them, and perhaps it might make them quiet. So 
they built a new wall, and a much stronger one than the 
first, sixty miles farther back from the Piets and Scots. Yet 
the barbarians made as many furious attacks to get over this 
second wall, as ever they had done to break through the 
former. 

But the Roman soldiers defended the second wall so well 
that the Scots and Piets could not break through it; though 
they often came round the end of the wall by sea, in boats 
made of ox-hides, stretched upon hoops, landed on the other 

1 See map. 


8 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


side, and did very much mischief. In the meantime the 
poor Britons led a very unhappy life; for the Romans, when 
they subdued their country, haying taken away all their arms, 
they lost the habit of using them, or of defending themselves, 
and trusted entirely to the protection of their conquerors. 

But at this time great quarrels, and confusions, and civil 
wars, took place at Rome. So the Roman Emperor sent to 
the soldiers whom he had maintained in Britain, and ordered 
that they should immediately return to their own country, 
and leave the Britons to defend their wall as well as they could 
against their unruly and warlike neighbors, the Piets and 
Scots. The Roman soldiers were very sorry for the poor 
Britons, but they could do no more to help them than by 
repairing the wall of defence. They therefore built it all up, 
and made it as if it were quite new. And then they took to 
their ships, and left the island [a.d. 446]. 

After the departure of the Romans, the Britons were quite 
unable to protect the wall against the barbarians; for, since 
their conquest by the Romans, they had become a weak and 
cowardly people. So the Piets and Scots broke through the 
wall at several points, wasted and destroyed the country, and 
took away the boys and girls to be slaves, seized upon the 
sheep, and upon the cattle, and burnt the houses, and did the 
inhabitants every sort of mischief. 

Thus at last the Britons, finding themselves no longer able 
to resist these barbarous people, invited into Britain to their 
assistance a number of men from the north of Germany, who 
were called Anglo-Saxons. Now, these were a very brave and 
warlike people, and they came in their ships from Germany, 
and landed in the south part of Britain [a. d. 449], and 
helped the Britons to fight with the Scots and Piets, and 
drove these nations again into the hills and fastnesses of their 
own country, to the north of the wall which the Romans 
built; and they were never afterwards so troublesome to their 
neighbors. 


. INTRODUCTION*. 


9 


But the Britons were not much the better for the defeat 
of their northern enemies; for the Saxons, when they had 
come into Britain, and saw what a beautiful, rich country it 
was, and that the people were not able to defend it, resolved 
to take the land to themselves, and to make the Britons their 
slaves and servants. The Britons were very unwilling to 
have their country taken from them by the people they had 
called in to help them, and so strove to oppose them; hut the 
Saxons were stronger and more warlike than they, and de- 
feated them so often that they at last got possession of all the 
level and flat land in the south part of Britain. 

However, the bravest part of the Britons fled into a very 
hilly part of the country, which is called Wales, and there 
they defended themselves against the Saxons for a great 
many years; and their descendants still speak the ancient 
British language, called Welsh. In the meantime the Anglo- 
Saxons spread themselves throughout all the south part of 
Britain, and the name of the country was changed, and it 
was no longer called Britain, hut England, which means the 
land of the Anglo-Saxons who had conquered it. 

While the Saxons and Britons were thus fighting together, 
the Scots and the Piets, after they had been driven hack 
behind the Roman wall, also quarrelled and fought between 
themselves; and at last, after a great many battles, the Scots 
got completely the better of the Piets. The common people 
say that the Scots destroyed them entirely; hut it is not likely 
that they could kill such great numbers of people. 

Yet it is certain they must have slain many, and driven 
others out of the country, and made the rest their servants 
and slaves; at least the Piets were never heard of in history 
after these great defeats, and the Scots gave their own name 
to the north part of Britain, as the Angles, or Anglo-Saxons, 
did to the south part; and so came the name of Scotland, the 
land of the Scots; and England, the land of the English. 

The two kingdoms were divided from each other, on the 


10 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


east by the river Tweed; then, as you proceed westward, by a 
great range of hills and wildernesses, and at length by a 
branch of the sea called the Frith of Solway . 1 The division is 
not very far from the old Roman wall. The wall itself has been 
long suffered to go to ruins; but there are some parts of it still 
standing, and it is curious to see how it runs as straight as an 
arrow over high hills, and through great bogs and morasses. 

Britain, therefore, was divided between three different 
nations, who were enemies to each other. There was Eng- 
land, which was the richest and best part of the island, and 
which was inhabited by the English. Then there was Scot- 
land, full of hills and great lakes, and difficult and dangerous 
precipices, wild heaths, and great morasses. This country was 
inhabited by the Scots, or Scottish men. And there was 
Wales, also a very wild and mountainous country, whither the 
remains of the ancient Britons had fled, to obtain safety from 
the Saxons. 

The Welsh defended their country for a long time, and 
lived under their own government and laws; yet the English 
got possession of it at last. But they were not able to become 
masters of Scotland, though they tried it frequently. The 
two countries were under different kings, who fought together 
very often and very desperately; and thus England and Scot- 
land, though making parts of the same island, were for a 
long time great enemies to each other. 

The English are very fond of their fine country; they call 
it “ Old England ” and “ Merry England/’ and think it the 
finest land that the sun shines upon. And the Scots also are 
very proud of their own country, with its great lakes and 
mountains; and, in the old language of the country, they call 
it "The land of the lakes and mountains; and of the brave 
men ” ; and often, also, “ The Land of Cakes,” because the 
people live a good deal upon cakes made of oatmeal, instead 
of wheaten bread. 


1 See map. 


INTRODUCTION. 


11 


II. 

THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

A king called Harold was the last monarch of the^Saxon 
race that ever reigned in England. The Saxons had con- 
quered the Britons, and now there came a new enemy to 
attack the Saxons. These were the Normans, a people who 
came from France, but were not originally Frenchmen. Their 
forefathers were a colony of northern pirates, who plundered 
all the sea-coasts which promised them any booty. They were 
frequently called Northmen or Normans, as they came from 
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the other northern regions. 

A large body of them landed on the north part of France, 
and compelled the king of that country to yield up to them 
the possession of a large territory, or province, called Neustria, 
the name of which was changed to Normandy when it became 
the property of these Northmen, or Normans. This province 
was governed by the Norman chief, who was called a duke, 
from a Latin word signifying a general. He exercised all the 
powers of a king within his dominions of Normandy, but, 
being possessed of a part of the territories of France, he 
acknowledged the king of that country for his sovereign, and 
became what was called his vassal. 

In those times kings as sovereigns were connected with their 
princes and great men as vassals. A great king, or sovereign 
prince, gave large provinces, or grants of land, to his dukes, 
earls, and noblemen; and each of these possessed nearly as 
much power, within his own district, as the king did in the 
rest of his dominions. But then the vassal, whether duke, 
earl, or lord, or whatever he was, was obliged to come with a 
certain number of men to assist the sovereign when he was 
engaged in war; and in time of peace he was bound to attend 
on his court when summoned and do homage to him — that 
is, acknowledge that he was his master and liege lord. 


12 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


In like manner the vassals of the crown, as they were called, 
divided the lands which the king had given them into estates, 
which they bestowed on knights and gentlemen, whom they 
thought fitted to follow them in war, and to attend them in 
peace; for they, too, held courts, and administered justice, 
each in his own province. Then the knights and gentlemen, 
who had these estates from the great nobles, distributed the 
property among an inferior class of proprietors, some of 
whom cultivated the land themselves, and others by means of 
husbandmen and peasants, who were treated as a sort of slaves, 
being bought and sold like brute beasts, along with the farms 
which they labored. 

Thus, when a great king, like that of France or England, 
went to war, he summoned all his crown vassals to attend 
him, with the number of armed men corresponding to his 
fief, as it was called; that is, the territory which had been 
granted to each of them. The prince, duke, or earl, in order 
to obey the summons, called upon all the gentlemen to whom 
he had given estates, to attend his standard with their fol- 
lowers in arms. The gentlemen, in their turn, called on the 
franklins, a lower order of gentry, and upon the peasants; 
and thus the whole force of the kingdom was assembled in one 
array. 

This system of holding lands for military service, that is, 
for fighting for the sovereign when called upon, was called 
the Feudal System. It was general throughout all Europe 
for a great many ages. 

But as many of these great crown vassals, as, for example, 
the Dukes of Normandy, became extremely powerful, they 
were in the custom of making peace and war at their own 
hand, without the knowledge or consent of the King of 
France, their sovereign. In the same manner the vassals of 
those great dukes and princes frequently made war on each 
other, for war was the business of every one; while the poor 
bondsman, who cultivated the ground, was subjected to the 


INTRODUCTION. 


13 


greatest hardships, and plundered and ill treated by which- 
ever side had the better. 

The nobles and gentlemen fought on horseback, arrayed in 
armor of steel, richly ornamented with gold and silver, and 
were called knights or squires. They used long lances, with 
which they rode fiercely against each other, and heavy swords, 
or clubs or maces, to fight hand to hand, when the lance was 
broken. Inferior persons fought on foot, and were armed 
with bows and arrows, which, according to their form, were 
called long-bows, or cross-bows, and served to kill men at a 
distance, instead of guns and cannon, which were not then 
invented. The poor husbandmen were obliged to come to the 
field of battle with such arms as they had: and it was no un- 
common thing to see a few of these knights and squires ride 
over and put to flight many hundreds of them; for the gentry 
were clothed in complete armor, so that they could receive 
little hurt, and the poor peasants had scarce clothes sufficient 
to cover them. 

It was not a very happy time this, when there was scarcely 
any law, but the strong took everything from the weak at 
their pleasure; for as almost all the inhabitants of the country 
were obliged to be soldiers, it naturally followed that they 
were engaged in continual fighting. 

The great crown vassals, in particular, made constant war 
upon one another, and sometimes upon the sovereign himself, 
though to do so was to incur the loss of their fiefs, or the 
territories which he had bestowed upon them, and which he 
was enabled by law to recall when they became his enemies. 
But they took the opportunity, when they were tolerably 
certain that their prince would not have strength sufficient 
to punish them. In short, no one could maintain his right 
longer than he had the power of defending it; and this in- 
duced the more poor and helpless to throw themselves under 
the protection of the brave and powerful — acknowledge 
themselves their vassals and subjects, and do homage to 


14 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


them, in order that they might obtain their safeguard and 
patronage. 

While things were in this state, William, the Duke of Nor- 
mandy, and the leader of that valiant people whose ancestors 
had conquered that province, began, upon the death of King 
Edward the Confessor, to consider the time as favorable for 
an attempt to conquer the wealthy kingdom of England. He 
pretended King Edward had named him his heir; but his 
surest reliance was upon a strong army of his brave Normans, 
to whom were joined many knights and squires from distant 
countries, who hoped, by assisting this Duke William in his 
proposed conquest, to obtain from him good English estates. 

The Duke of Normandy landed in Sussex in the year one 
thousand and sixty-six after the birth of our blessed Saviour. 
He had an army of sixty thousand chosen men, for accom- 
plishing his hold enterprise. Harold, who had succeeded 
Edward the Confessor on the throne of England, had been 
just engaged in repelling an attack upon England by the 
Norwegians, and was now called upon to oppose this new and 
more formidable invasion. He was, therefore, taken at con- 
siderable disadvantage. 

The armies of England and Normandy engaged in a des- 
perate battle near Hastings [Oct. 14, 1066], and the victory 
was long obstinately contested. The Normans had a great 
advantage from having amongst them large hands of archers 
who used the long-how and greatly annoyed the English, 
who had hut few how-men to oppose them, and only short 
darts called javelins, which they threw from their hands, and 
which could do little hurt at a distance. 

Yet the victory remained doubtful, though the battle had 
lasted from nine in the morning until the close of day, when 
an arrow pierced through King Harold’s head, and he fell 
dead on the spot. The English then retreated from the field, 
and Duke William used his advantage with so much skill and 
dexterity that he made himself master of all England, and 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


reigned there under the title of William the Conqueror. He 
divided great part of the rich country of England among his 
Norman followers, who held their estates of him for military 
service, according to the rules of the feudal system. 

The Anglo-Saxons were angry at this, and attempted several 
times to rise against King William, and drive him and his 
soldiers hack to Normandy. But they were always defeated; 
and so King William became more severe towards these 
Anglo-Saxons, and took away their lands, and their high 
rank and appointments, until be left scarce any of them in 
possession of great estates, or offices of rank, hut put his 
Normans above them, as masters, in every situation. 

Thus the Saxons, who had conquered the British, were in 
their turn conquered by the Normans, deprived of their 
property, and reduced to he the servants of those proud 
foreigners. To this day, though several of the ancient 
nobility of England claim to he descended from the Normans, 
there is scarcely a nobleman, and very few of the gentry, who 
can show that they are descended of the' Saxon blood; William 
the Conqueror took so much care to deprive the conquered 
people of all power and importance. 

It must have been a sad state of matters in England when 
the Normans were turning the Saxons out of their estates and 
habitations, and degrading them from being freemen into 
slaves. But good came out of it in the end; for these Nor- 
mans were not only one of the bravest people that ever lived, 
hut they were possessed of more learning and skill in the arts 
than the Saxons. They brought with them the art of build- 
ing large and beautiful castles and churches composed of 
stone, whereas the. Saxons had only miserable houses made of 
wood. The Normans introduced the use of the long-how also, 
which became so general that the English were afterwards 
accounted the best archers in the world, and gained many 
battles by their superiority in that military art. 

Besides these advantages, the Normans lived in a more 


16 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


civilized manner than the Saxons, and observed among each 
other the rules of civility and good-breeding, of which the 
Saxons were ignorant. The Norman barons were also great 
friends to national liberty, and would not allow their kings to 
do anything contrary to their privileges, but resisted them 
whenever they attempted anything beyond the power which 
was given to them by law. Schools were set up in various 
places by the Norman princes, and learning was encouraged. 
Large towns were founded in different places of the kingdom, 
and received favor from the Norman kings, who desired to 
have the assistance of the townsmen in case of an*y dispute 
with their nobility. 

Thus the Norman Conquest, though a most unhappy and 
disastrous event at the time it took place, rendered England, 
in the end, a more wise, more civilized, and more powerful 
country than it had been before; and you will find many such 
cases in history in which it has pleased the providence of 
God to bring great good out of what seems, at first sight, to 
be unmixed evil. 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER 


CHAPTER I. 

THE STORY OF MACBETH. 

Soon after the Scots and Piets had become one people, 
there was a king of Scotland called Duncan, a very good old 
man. He had two sons; one was called Malcolm, and the 
other Donaldbane. But King Duncan was too old to lead 
out his army to battle, and his sons were too young to help 
him. 

At this time Scotland, and indeed France and England, and 
all the other countries of Europe, were much harassed by the 
Danes. These were a very fierce, warlike people, who sailed 
from one place to another, and landed their armies on the 
coast, burning and destroying everything wherever they 
came. They thought of nothing but battle and slaughter 
and making plunder. When they came to countries where 
the inhabitants were cowardly, they took possession of the 
land, as the Saxons took possession of Britain. 

Now, it happened in King Duncan’s time that a great 
fleet of these Danes came to Scotland, landed their men in 
Fife , 1 and threatened to take possession of that province. 
So a numerous Scottish army was levied to go to fight against 
them. The King, as I told you, was too old to command his 
army, and his sons were too young. He therefore sent out 
one of his near relations, who was called Macbeth; he was son 
of Finel, who was Thane, as it was called, of Glammis. The 

1 See map. 


2 


18 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


governors of provinces were at that time, in Scotland, called 
thanes; they were afterwards termed earls. 

This Macbeth, who was a brave soldier, put himself at the 
head of the Scottish army, and marched against the Danes. 
And he carried with him a relation of his own, called Banquo, 
who was Thane of Lochaber, and was also a very brave man. 
So there was a great battle fought between the Danes and the 
Scots; and Macbeth and Banquo, the Scottish generals, de- 
feated the Danes, and drove them hack to their ships, leaving 
a great many of their soldiers both killed and wounded. Then 
Macbeth and his army marched hack to a town in the north 
of Scotland, called Forres, rejoicing on account of their 
victory. 

Now, there lived at this time three old women in the town 
of Forres , 1 whom people looked upon as witches, and supposed 
they could tell what was to come to pass. Nobody would 
believe such folly nowadays, except ignorant creatures, such 
as those who consult gypsies in order to have their fortunes 
told; but in those early times the people were much more 
ignorant, and even grea/t men, like Macbeth, believed that 
such persons as these witches of Forres could tell what was to 
come to pass, and listened to the nonsense they told them, as 
if the old women had really been prophetesses. The old 
women saw that they were respected and feared, so that they 
were tempted to impose upon people, by pretending to tell 
what was to happen to them; and they got presents for do- 
ing so. 

So the three old women went and stood by the wayside, in 
a great moor or heath near Forres, and waited till Macbeth 
came up. And then, stepping before him as he was marching 
at the head of his soldiers, the first woman said, “All hail, 
Macbeth — hail to thee, Thane of Glammis.” The second said, 
“ All hail, Macbeth — hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor.” Then 
the third, wishing to pay him a higher compliment than the 

1 See map, 


THE STORY OF MACBETH. 


19 


other two, said, “ All hail, Macbeth, that shalt he King of 
Scotland.” 

Macbeth was very much surprised to hear them give him 
these titles; and while he was wondering what they could 
mean, Banquo stepped forward, and asked them whether they 
bad nothing to tell about him as well as about Macbeth. And 
they said that he should not he so great as Macbeth, hut that, 
though he himself should never he a king, yet his children 
should succeed to the throne of Scotland, and he kings for a 
great number of years. 

Before Macbeth recovered from his surprise, there came a 
messenger to tell him that his father was dead, so that he was 
become Thane of Glammis by inheritance. And there came 
a second messenger, from the King, to thank Macbeth for 
the great victory over the Danes, and tell him that the Thane 
of Cawdor had rebelled against the King, and that the King 
had taken his office from him, and had sent to make Macbeth 
Thane of Cawdor as well as of Glammis. 

Thus the two first old women seemed to be right in giving 
him those two titles. I dare say they knew something of the 
death of Macbeth’s father, and that the government of Cawdor 
was intended for Macbeth, though he had not beard of it. 
However, Macbeth, seeing a part of their words come to be 
true, began to think how he was to bring the rest to pass, and 
make himself king, as well as Thane of Glammis and Cawdor. 

Now, Macbeth had a wife, who was a very ambitious, wicked 
woman, and when she found out that her husband thought of 
raising himself up to be King of Scotland, she encouraged 
him in his wicked purpose, by all the means in her power, and 
persuaded him that the only way to get possession of the 
crown was to kill the good old King Duncan. Macbeth was 
very unwilling to commit so great a crime, for he knew what 
a good sovereign Duncan had been; and he recollected that 
he was his relation, and had been always very kind to him, 
and had entrusted him with the command of his army, 


20 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


and had bestowed on him the government or thanedom of 
Cawdor. 

But his wife continued telling him what a foolish, cowardly 
thing it was in him not to take the opportunity of making 
himself king, when it was in his power to gain what the 
witches promised him. So the wicked advice of his wife, ! 
and the prophecy of these wretched old women, at last 
brought Macbeth to think of murdering his King and his 
friend. The way in which he accomplished his crime made 
it still more abominable. 

Macbeth invited Duncan to come to visit him at a great 
castle near Inverness ; 1 and the good King, who had no sus- 
picions of his kinsman, accepted the invitation very willingly. 
Macbeth and his lady received the King and all his retinue 
with much appearance of joy, and made a great feast, as a 
subject would do to make his king welcome. 

About the middle of the night the King desired to go to 
his apartment, and Macbeth conducted him to a fine room 
which had been prepared for him. Now, it was the custom, 
in those barbarous times, that wherever the King slept, two 
armed men slept in the same chamber, in order to defend 
his person in case he should be attacked by any one during 
the night. But the wicked Lady Macbeth had made these 
two watchmen drink a great deal of wine, and had besides put 
some drugs into the liquor; so that when they went to the 
King’s apartment they both fell asleep, and slept so soundly 
that nothing could awaken them. 

Then the cruel Macbeth came into King Duncan’s bedroom 
about two in the morning. It was a terrible stormy night; 
but the noise of the wind and of the thunder did not awaken 
the King, for he was old, and weary with his journey; neither 
could it awaken the two sentinels, who were stupefied with 
the liquor and the drugs they had swallowed. They all slept 
soundly. 


THE STORY OF MACBETH. 


21 


So Macbeth, having come into the room, and stepped gently 
over the floor, he took the two dirks which belonged to the 
sentinels, and stabbed poor old King Duncan to the heart, so 
that he died without giving even a groan. Then Macbeth 
put the bloody daggers into the hands of the sentinels, and 
daubed their faces over with blood, that it might appear as if 
they had committed the murder. Macbeth was, however, 
greatly frightened at what he had done, but his wife made 
him wash his hands and go to bed. 

Early in the morning the nobles and gentlemen who at- 
tended on the King assembled in the great hall of the castle, 
and there they began to talk of what a dreadful storm it had 
been the night before. They waited for some time, but find- 
ing the King did not come from his apartment, one of the 
noblemen went to see whether he was well or not. 

But when he came into the room, he found poor King 
Duncan lying stiff and cold, and the two sentinels both fast 
asleep, with their dirks or daggers covered with blood. As 
soon as the Scottish nobles saw this terrible sight, they were 
greatly astonished and enraged; and Macbeth made believe as 
if he were more enraged than any of them, and, drawing his 
sword, before any one could prevent him, he killed the two 
attendants of the King who slept in the bed-chamber, pre- 
tending to think they had been guilty of murdering King 
Duncan. 

When Malcolm and Donaldbane, the two sons of the good 
King, saw their father slain, they became afraid that they 
might be put to death likewise, and fled away out of Scot- 
land; for they believed that Macbeth had killed their father. 
Donaldbane fled into some distant islands, but Malcolm, the 
eldest son of Duncan, went to the court of England, where 
he begged for assistance from the English King, to place him 
on the throne of Scotland as his father’s successor. 

In the meantime Macbeth took possession of the kingdom 
of Scotland, and thus all his wicked wishes seemed to be 


22 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


fulfilled. But he was not happy. He began to reflect how 
wicked he had been in killing his friend and benefactor, and 
how some other person, as ambitious as he was himself, might 
do the same thing tt> him. He remembered, too, that the old 
women had said that the children of Banquo should succeed 
to the throne after his death, and therefore he concluded that 
Banquo might conspire against him, as he had himself done 
against King Duncan. The wicked always think other people 
are as bad as themselves. 

In order to prevent this supposed danger, Macbeth hired 
ruffians to watch in a wood, where Banquo and his son 
Fleance sometimes used to walk in the evening, with instruc- 
tions to attack them, and kill both father and son. The 
villains did as they were ordered by Macbeth; but while they 
were killing Banquo, the boy Fleance made his escape from 
their wicked hands, and fled from Scotland into Wales. And 
it is said that, long afterwards, his children came to possess 
the Scottish crown. 

Macbeth was not the more happy that he had slain his 
brave friend and cousin Banquo. He knew that men began 
to suspect the wicked deeds which he had done, and he 
was constantly afraid that some one would put him to 
death as he had done his old sovereign, or that Malcolm 
would obtain assistance from the King of England, and come 
to make war against him, and take from him the Scottish 
kingdom. 

So he thought he would go to the old women whose words 
had first put into his mind the desire of becoming a king. It 
is to be supposed that he offered them presents, and that they 
were cunning enough to study how to give him some answer 
which should make him continue in the belief that they could 
prophesy what was to happen in future times. So they 
answered him that he should not be conquered, or lose the 
crown of Scotland, until a great forest, called Birnam Wood, 
should come to attack a strong castle situated on a high 


THE STORY OF MACBETH. 


23 


hill called Dunsinane , 1 in which castle Macbeth commonly 
resided. 

Now, the hill of Dunsinane is upon the one side of a great 
valley, and the forest of Birnam is upon the other. There 
are twelve miles* distance betwixt them; and besides that, 
Macbeth thought it was impossible that the trees could ever 
come to the assault of the castle. He therefore resolved to 
fortify his castle on the hill of Dunsinane very strongly, as 
being a place in which he would always be sure to be safe. 
For this purpose he caused all his great nobility and thanes to 
send in stones and wood and other things wanted in building, 
and to drag them with oxen up to the top of the steep hill 
where he was building the castle. 

Now, among other nobles who were obliged to send oxen, 
and horses, and materials to this laborious work, was one 
called Macduff, the Thane of Fife. Macbeth was afraid of 
this thane, for he was very powerful, and was accounted both 
brave and wise; and Macbeth thought he would most probably 
join with Prince Malcolm, if ever he should come from Eng- 
]and with an army. 

The King, therefore, had a private hatred against the 
Thane of Fife, which he kept concealed from all men, until 
he should have some opportunity of putting him to death, as 
he had done Duncan and Banquo. Macduff, on his part, 
kept upon his guard, and went to the King’s court as seldom 
as he could, thinking himself never safe unless while in his 
own castle of Kennoway, which is on the coast of Fife, near 
to the mouth of the Frith of Forth. 

It happened, however, that the King had summoned several 
of his nobles, and Macduff, the Thane of Fife, amongst others, 
to attend him at his new castle of Dunsinane; and they were 
all obliged to come — none dared stay behind. Now, the 
King was to give the nobles a great entertainment, and prep- 
arations were made for it. In the meantime Macbeth rode 


1 In Scotland this word is pronounced Dunsin'nan. 


24 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


out with a few attendants to see the oxen drag the wood and 
the stones up the hilh So they saw most of the oxen trudg- 
ing up the hill with great difficulty, for the burdens were 
heavy, and the weather was extremely hot. 

At length Macbeth saw a pair of oxen so tired that they 
could go no farther up the hill, hut fell down under their load. 
Then the King was very angry, and demanded to know who 
it was among his thanes that had sent oxen so weak and so 
unfit for labor, when he had so much work for them to do. 
Some one replied that the oxen belonged to Macduff, the 
Thane of Fife. “ Then,” said the King, in great anger, 
“ since the Thane of Fife sends such worthless cattle as these 
to do my labor, I will put his own neck into the yoke, and 
make him drag the burdens himself.” 

There was a friend of Macduff who heard these angry ex- 
pressions of the King, and hastened to communicate them to 
the Thane of Fife, who was walking in the hall of the King’s 
castle while dinner was preparing. The instant that Macduff 
heard what the King had said, he knew he had no time to lose 
in making his escape; for whenever Macbeth threatened to do 
mischief to any one, he was sure to keep his word. 

So Macduff snatched up from the table a loaf of bread, 
called for his horses and his servants, and was galloping hack 
to his own province of Fife, before Macbeth and the rest of 
the nobility returned to the castle. The first question which 
the King asked was, what had become of Macduff, and being 
informed that he had fled from Dunsinane, he ordered a body 
of his guards to attend him, and mounted on horseback him- 
self to pursue the Thane, with the purpose of putting him to 
death. 

Macduff, in the meantime, fled as fast as horses’ feet could 
carry him; hut he was so ill provided with money for his 
expenses that, when he came to the great ferry over the river 
Tay, 1 he had nothing to give to the boatmen who took him 

1 See map. 


THE STORY OF MACBETH. 


25 


across, excepting the loaf of bread which he had taken from 
the King’s table. The place was called, for a long time after- 
wards, the Ferry of the Loaf. 

When Macduff got into his province of Fife, which is on 
the other side of the Tay, he rode on faster than before 
towards his own castle of Kennoway, which stands close by 
the sea-side; and when he reached it, the King and his guards 
were not far behind him. Macduff ordered his wife to shut 
the gates of the castle, and on no account to permit the 
King or any of his soldiers to enter. In the meantime 
he went to the small harbor belonging to the castle, and 
caused a ship which was lying there to be fitted out for sea 
in all haste, and got aboard himself, in order to escape from 
Macbeth. 

In the meantime Macbeth summoned the lady to sur- 
render the castle, and to deliver up her husband. But Lady 
Macduff, who was a wise and a brave woman, made many 
excuses and delays, until she knew that her husband was 
safely on 'board the ship, and had sailed from the harbor. 
Then she spoke boldly from the wall of the castle to the King, 
who was standing before the gate still demanding entrance, 
with many threats of what he would do if Macduff was not 
given up to him. 

“Do you see,” she said, “yon white sail upon the sea? 
Yonder goes Macduff to the court of England. You will 
never see him again till he comes back with young Prince 
Malcolm to pull you down from the throne and to put you 
to death. You will never be able to put your yoke, as you 
threatened, on the Thane of Fife’s neck.” 

Some say that Macbeth was so much incensed at this bold 
answer that he and his guards attacked the castle and took 
it, killing the brave lady and all whom they found there. 
But others say that the King, seeing that the fortress of 
Kennoway was very strong, and that Macduff had escaped 
from him, and was embarked for England, returned to Dun- 


26 


TALES OF A GKANDFATHEK. 


sinane without attempting to take the castle. The ruins are 
still to he seen, and are called the Thane’s Castle. 

There reigned at that time in England a very good king, 
called Edward the Confessor. Prince Malcolm, the son of 
Duncan, was at his court, soliciting assistance to recover the 
Scottish throne. The arrival of Macduff greatly aided the 
success of his petition; for the English King knew that Mac- 
duff was a brave and a wise man. As he assured Edward that 
the Scots were tired of the cruel Macbeth, and would join 
Prince Malcolm if he were to return to his country at the 
head of an army, the King ordered a great warrior, called 
Siward, Earl of Northumberland, to enter Scotland with a 
large force [a.d. 1054], and assist Prince Malcolm in the 
recovery of his father’s crown. 

Then it happened just as Macduff had said; for the Scottish 
thanes and nobles would not fight for Macbeth, hut joined 
Prince Malcolm and Macduff against him; so that at length 
he shut himself up in his castle of Dnnsinane, where he 
thought himself safe, according to the old women’s prophecy, 
until Birnam Wood should come against him. He boasted of 
this to his followers, and encouraged them to make a valiant 
defence, assuring them of certain victory. 

At this time Malcolm and Macduff were come as far as 
Birnam Wood, and lay encamped there with their army. The 
next morning, when they were to march across the broad 
valley to attack the castle of Dunsinane, Macduff advised that 
every soldier should cut down a hough of a tree and carry 
it in his hand, that the enemy might not he able to see how 
many men were coming against them. 

Now, the sentinel who stood on Macbeth’s castle- wall, when 
he saw all these branches, which the soldiers of Prince Mal- 
colm carried, ran to the King, and informed him that the 
wood of Birnam was moving towards the castle of Dunsinane. 
The King at first called him a liar, and threatened to put him 
to death; but when he looked from the walls himself, and saw 


SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 


27 


the appearance of a forest approaching from Birnam, he knew 
the hour of his destruction was come. His followers, too, 
began to he disheartened and to fly from the castle, seeing 
their master had lost all hopes. 

Macbeth, however, recollected his own bravery, and sallied 
out at the head of the few followers who remained faithful 
to him. He was killed, after a furious resistance, fighting 
hand to hand with Macduff in the thick of the battle. Prince 
Malcolm mounted the throne of Scotland, and reigned long 
and prosperously. He rewarded Macduff by declaring that 
his descendants should lead the vanguard of the Scottish 
army in battle, and place the crown on the Kang’s head at the 
ceremony of coronation. King Malcolm also created the 
thanes of Scotland earls, after the title of dignity adopted in 
the court of England. 1 


CHAPTER II. 

SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 

Edward I., King of England [1274-1307], reduced Scot- 
land almost entirely to the condition of a conquered country, 
although he obtained possession of the kingdom less by his 
bravery than by cunningly taking advantage of the disputes 
and divisions that followed amongst the Scots themselves 
after the death of Alexander III. [King of Scotland]. 

The English, however, obtained possession of the country, 
and governed it with much rigor. They called all men to 
account who would not take the oath of allegiance to King 
Edward. Many of the Scots refused this, as what the English 
King had no right to demand from them. Such persons 
were called into the courts of justice, fined, deprived of their 

1 The story as given above is substantially the same as that related by Shakespeare in 
his great play of Macbeth, 


28 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


estates, and otherwise severely punished. Then the English 
treasurer tormented the Scottish nation by collecting money 
from them under various pretexts. 

The Scots were always a poor people, and their native kings 
had treated them with much kindness, and seldom required 
them to pay any taxes. They were, therefore, extremely 
enraged at finding themselves obliged to pay to the English 
treasurer much larger sums of money ,than their own good 
kings had ever demanded from them, and they became ex- 
ceedingly dissatisfied. 

Besides these modes of oppression, the English soldiers, 
who had been placed in garrison in the different castles of 
Scotland, thought themselves masters of the country, treated 
the Scots with great contempt, took from them by main force 
whatever they had a fancy to, and if the owners offered to 
resist, abused them, beat and wounded, and sometimes killed 
them; for which acts of violence the English officers did not 
check or punish their soldiers. 

Scotland was, therefore, in great distress, and the inhabi- 
tants, exceedingly enraged, only wanted some leader to com- 
mand them, to rise up in a body against the English or 
Southern men, as they called them, and recover the liberty 
and independence of their country, which had been destroyed 
by Edward the First. 

Such a leader arose in the person of William Wallace, 
whose name is still so often mentioned in Scotland. It is a 
great pity we do not know exactly the history of this brave 
man; for at the time when he lived every one was so busy 
fighting that there was no person to write down the history 
of what took place; and afterwards, when there was more 
leisure for composition, the truths that were collected were 
greatly mingled with falsehood. What I shall tell you of 
him is generally believed to be true. 

William Wallace was none of the high nobles of Scotland, 
but the son of a private gentleman, called Wallace of Ellerslie, 


SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 


29 


in Renfrewshire, near Paisley . 1 He was very tall and hand- 
some, and one of the strongest and bravest men that ever 
lived. He had a very fine countenance, with a quantity of 
fair hair, and was particularly dexterous in the use of all 
weapons which were then employed in battle. Wallace, like 
all Scotsmen of high spirit, had looked with great indignation 
upon the usurpation of the Scottish crown by Edward, and 
upon the insolences which the English soldiers committed on 
his countrymen. 

It is said that when he was very young he went a-fishing 
for sport in the river of Irvine, near Ayr . 1 He had caught a 
good many trouts, which were carried by a boy who attended 
him with a fishing-basket, as is usual with anglers. Two or 
three English soldiers, who belonged to the garrison of Ayr, 
came up to Wallace, and insisted, with their usual insolence, 
on taking the fish from the hoy. Wallace was contented to 
allow them a part of the trouts, hut he refused to part with 
the whole basketful. The soldiers insisted, and from words 
came to blows. 

Wallace had no better weapon than the butt-end of his 
fishing-rod; hut he struck the foremost of the Englishmen 
so hard under the ear with it that he killed him on the spot; 
and getting possession of the slain man’s sword, he fought 
with so much fury that he put the others to flight, and 
brought home his fish safe and sound. The English governor 
of Ayr sought for him to punish him with death for this 
action; hut Wallace lay concealed among the hills and great 
woods till the matter was forgotten, and then appeared in 
another part of the country. He is said to have had other 
adventures of the same kind, in which he gallantly defended 
himself, sometimes when alone, sometimes with very few com- 
panions, against superior numbers of the English, until at 
last his name became generally known as a terror to them. 

But the action which occasioned his finally rising in arms 

1 See map. 


30 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


is believed to have happened in the town of Lanark . 1 Wallace 
was at this time married to a lady of that place, and residing 
there with his wife. It chanced, as he walked in the market- 
place, dressed in a green garment, with a rich dagger by his 
side, that an Englishman came up and insulted him on ac- 
count of his finery, saying a Scotsman had no business to 
wear so gay a dress, or carry so handsome a weapon. It soon 
came to a quarrel, as on many former occasions; and Wallace, 
having killed the Englishman, fled to his own bouse, which 
was speedily assaulted by all the English soldiers. While 
they were endeavoring to force their way in at the front of the 
house, Wallace escaped by a back-door, and got in safety to a 
rugged and rocky glen, near Lanark, called the Cartland 
crags, all covered with bushes and trees, and full of high 
precipices, where he knew he should be safe from the pursuit 
of the English soldiers. 

In the meantime the governor of Lanark, whose name was 
Hazelrigg, burned Wallace’s house, and put his wife and ser- 
vants to death; and by committing this cruelty increased to 
the highest pitch the hatred which the champion had al- 
ways borne against the English usurper. Hazelrigg also pro- 
claimed Wallace an outlaw, and offered a reward to any one 
who should bring him to an English garrison, alive or dead. 

On the other hand, Wallace soon collected a body of men, 
outlawed like himself, or willing to become so, rather than 
any longer endure the oppression of the English. One of his 
earliest expeditions was directed against Hazelrigg, whom he 
killed, and thus avenged the death of his wife. He fought 
skirmishes with the soldiers who were sent against him, and 
often defeated them; and in time became so well known and 
so formidable that multitudes began to resort to his stand- 
ard, until at length he was at the head of a considerable 
army, with which he proposed to restore his country to 
independence. 


* See map. 


SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 


31 


About this time is said to have taken place a memorable 
event, which the Scottish people called the Barns of Ayr. 
It is alleged that the English governor of Ayr had invited 
the greater part of the Scottish nobility and gentry in the 
western parts, to meet him at some large buildings called the 
Barns of Ayr, for the purpose of friendly conference upon 
the affairs of the nation. 

But the English earl entertained the treacherous purpose 
of putting the Scottish gentlemen to death. The English 
soldiers had halters with running nooses prepared, and hung 
upon the beams which supported the roof; and as the Scottish 
gentlemen were admitted by two and two at a time, the nooses 
were thrown over their heads, and they were pulled up by the 
neck, and thus hanged or strangled to death. Among those 
who were slain in this base and treacherous manner was, it 
is said, Sir Keginald Crawford, sheriff of the county of Ayr, 
and uncle to William Wallace. 

When Wallace heard of what had happened, he was dread- 
fully enraged, and collecting his men in a wood near the 
town of Ayr, he resolved to be revenged on the authors of 
this great crime. The English in the meanwhile made much 
feasting, and when they had eaten and drunk plentifully, they 
lay down to sleep in the same large barns in which they had 
murdered the Scottish gentlemen. But Wallace, learning 
that they kept no guard or watch, not suspecting there were 
enemies so near them, directed a woman who knew the place, 
to mark with chalk the doors of the lodgings where the 
Englishmen lay. Then he sent a party of men, who, with 
strong ropes, made all the doors so fast on the outside that 
those within could not open them. On the outside the Scots 
had prepared heaps of straw, to which they set fire, and the 
Barns of Ayr, being themselves made of wood, were soon 
burning in a bright flame. 

Then the English were awakened, and endeavored to get 
out to save their lives. But the doors were secured on the 


32 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


outside, and bound fast with ropes; and, besides, the blazing 
houses were surrounded by the Scots, who forced those who 
got out to run back into the fire, or else put them to death 
on the spot; and thus great numbers perished miserably. 
Many of the English were lodged in a convent, but they had 
no better fortune than the others; for the prior of the con- 
vent caused all the friars to arm themselves, and, attacking 
the English guests, they put most of them to the sword. This 
was called the “ Friar of Ayr’s blessing.” We cannot tell if 
this story of the Barns of Ayr be exactly true; but it is prob- 
able there is some foundation for it, as it is universally be- 
lieved in that country. 

Thus Wallace’s party grew daily stronger and stronger, and 
many of the Scottish nobles joined with him. Among these 
were Sir William Douglas, the Lord of Douglas-dale, and the 
head of a great family often mentioned in Scottish history. 
There was also Sir John the Grahame, who became Wallace’s 
bosom friend and greatest confidant. 

Many of these great noblemen, however, deserted the cause 
of the country on the approach of John de Warenne, Earl of 
Surrey, the English governor, at the head of a numerous 
and well-appointed army. They thought that Wallace would 
be unable to withstand the attack of so many disciplined 
soldiers, and hastened to submit themselves to the English, 
for fear of losing their estates. Wallace, however, remained 
undismayed, and at the head of a considerable army. He 
had taken up his camp upon the northern side of the River 
Forth, near the town of Stirling . 1 The river was there crossed 
by a long wooden bridge. 

The English general approached the banks of the river on 
the southern side. He sent two clergymen to offer a pardon 
to Wallace and his followers, on condition that they should 
lay down their arms. But such was not the purpose of the 
high-minded champion of Scotland. 

1 See map. 


SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 


33 


“ Go back to Warenne,” said Wallace, “ and tell him we 
value not the pardon of the King of England. We are not 
here for the purpose of treating of peace, hut of abiding 
battle, and restoring freedom to our country. Let the English 
come On; — we defy them to their very beards! ” 

The English, upon hearing this haughty answer, called 
loudly to be led to the attack. Their leader, Sir Richard 
Lundin, a Scottish knight, who had gone over to the enemy 
at Irvine , 1 hesitated, for he was ar skilful soldier, and he saw 
that, to approach the Scottish army, his troops must pass over 
the long, narrow wooden bridge; so that those who should 
get over first might be attacked by Wallace with all his forces, 
before those who remained behind could possibly come to 
their assistance. He therefore inclined to delay the battle. 

But Cressingham, the treasurer, who was ignorant and pre- 
sumptuous, insisted that it was there duty to fight, and put an 
end to the war at once; and Lundin gave way to his opinion, 
although Cressingham, being a churchman, could not be so 
good a judge of what was fitting as he himself, an experienced 
officer. 

The English army began to cross the bridge, Cressingham 
leading the van, or foremost division of the army; for, in 
those military days, even clergymen wore armor and fought 
in battle. That took place which Lundin had foreseen. 
Wallace allowed a considerable part of the English army to 
pass the bridge, without offering any opposition; but when 
about one-half were over, and the bridge was crowded with 
those who were following, he charged those who had crossed 
with his whole strength, slew a very great number, and drove 
the rest into the River Forth, where the greater part were 
drowned. 

The remainder of the English army, who were left on the 
southern bank of the river, fled in great confusion, having 
first set fire to the wooden bridge, that the Scots might not 

i See map. 


3 


34 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER 


pursue them. Cressingham was killed in the very beginning 
of the battle; and the Scots detested him so much that they 
flayed the skin from his dead body, and kept pieces of it, in 
memory of the revenge they had taken upon the English 
treasurer. It must be owned to have been a dishonorable 
thing of the Scots to insult thus the dead body of their enemy, 
and shows that they must have been then a ferocious people. 

The remains of Surrey’s great army fled out of Scotland 
after this defeat; and the Scots, taking arms on all sides, 
attacked the castles in which the English soldiers continued 
to shelter themselves, and took most of them by force or 
stratagem. Many wonderful stories are told of Wallace’s 
exploits on these occasions; some of which are no doubt true, 
while others are either invented, or very much exaggerated. 
It seems certain, however, that he defeated the English in 
several combats, chased them almost entirely out of Scot- 
land, regained the towns and castles of which they had pos- 
sessed themselves, and recovered for a time the complete 
, freedom of the country. He even marched into England, 
and laid Cumberland and Northumberland waste, where the 
Scottish soldiers, in revenge for the mischief which the Eng- 
lish had done in their country, committed great cruelties. 

Wallace did not approve of their killing the people who 
were not in arms, and he endeavored to protect the clergy- 
men and others, who were not able to defend themselves. 
“ Remain with me,” he said to the priests of Hexham, a large 
town in Northumberland, “ for I cannot protect you from my 
soldiers when you are out of my presence.” The troops who 
followed Wallace received no pay, because he had no money 
to give them; and that was one great reason why he could 
not keep them under restraint, or prevent their doing much 
harm to the defenceless country people. He remained in 
England more than three weeks, and did a great deal of mis- 
chief to the country. 

Indeed, it appears that, though Wallace disapproved of 


SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 


35 


slaying priests, women, and children, he partook of the feroc- 
ity of the times so much as to put to death all whom he found 
in arms. In the north of Scotland the English had placed 
a garrison in the strong Castle of Dunnottar , 1 which, built 
on a large and precipitous rock, overhangs the raging sea. 
Though the place is almost inaccessible, Wallace and his 
followers found their way into the castle, while the garrison 
in great terror fled into the church or chapel, which was built 
on the very verge of the precipice. 

This did not save them, for Wallace caused the church to 
be set on fire. The terrified garrison, involved in the flames, 
ran some of them upon the points of the Scottish swords, 
while others threw themselves from the precipice into the sea, 
and swam along to the cliffs, where they hung like sea-fowl, 
screaming in vain for mercy and assistance. 

The followers of Wallace were frightened at this dreadful 
scene, and falling on their knees before the priests who 
chanced to be in the army, they asked forgiveness for having 
committed so much slaughter within the limits of a church 
dedicated to the service of God. But Wallace had so deep a 
sense of the injuries which the English had done to his coun- 
try that he only laughed at the contrition of his soldiers — 
“ I will absolve you all, myself,” he said. “ Are you Scottish 
soldiers, and do you repent for a trifle like this, which is not 
half what the invaders deserved at our hands?” So deep- 
seated was Wallace’s feeling of national resentment, that it 
seems to have overcome, in such instances, the scruples of a 
temper which was naturally humane. 

Edward I. was in Flanders when all these events took place. 
You may suppose he was very angry when he learned that 
Scotland, which he thought completely subdued, had risen 
into a great insurrection against him, defeated his armies, 
killed his treasurer, chased his soldiers out of their country, 
and invaded England with a great force. He came back from 

1 See map. 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


Flanders in a mighty rage, and determined not to leave that 
rebellious country until it was finally conquered; for which 
purpose he assembled a very fine army, and marched into 
Scotland. 

In the meantime the Scots prepared to defend themselves, 
and chose Wallace to be governor, or protector, of the king- 
dom, because they had no king at the time. He was now 
titled Sir William Wallace, Protector, or Governor, of the 
Scottish nation. But although Wallace, as we have seen, 
was the best soldier and bravest man in Scotland, and there- 
fore the most fit to be placed in command at this critical 
period, when the King of England was coming against them 
with such great forces, yet the nobles of Scotland envied him 
this important situation, because he was not a man born in 
high rank or enjoying a large estate. So great was their 
jealousy of Sir William Wallace that many of these great 
barons did not seem very willing to bring forward their forces, 
or fight against the English, because they would not have a 
man of inferior condition to be general. 

This was base and mean conduct, and it was attended with 
great disasters to Scotland. Yet, notwithstanding this un- 
willingness of the great nobility to support him, Wallace 
assembled a large army; for the middling, but especially the 
lower classes, were very much attached to him. He marched 
boldly against the King of England, and met him near the 
town of Falkirk . 1 Most of the 'Scottish army were on foot, 
because in those days only the nobility and great men of Scot- 
land fought on horseback. The English King, on the con- 
trary, had a very large body of the finest cavalry in the world, 
Hormans and English, all clothed in complete armor. He 
had also the celebrated archers of England, each of whom was 
said to carry twelve Scotsmen’s lives under his girdle; because 
every archer had twelve arrows stuck in his belt, and was ex- 
pected to kill a man with every arrow. 

( 1 See map. 


SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 


87 


The Scots had some good archers from the Forest of Et- 
trick, 1 who fought under command of Sir John Stewart of 
Bonkill; but they were not nearly equal in number to the 
English. The greater part of the Scottish army were on foot, 
armed with long spears; they were placed thick and close 
together, and laid all their spears so close, point over point, 
that it seemed as difficult to break through them as through 
the wall of a strong castle. When the two armies were drawn 
up facing each other, Wallace said to his soldiers, “ I have 
brought you to the ring, let me see how you can dance ” ; 
meaning, I have brought you to the decisive field of battle, 
let me see how bravely you can fight. 

The English made the attack. King Edward, though he 
saw the close ranks, and undaunted appearance, of the Scot- 
tish infantry, resolved nevertheless to try whether he could 
not ride them down with his fine cavalry. He therefore gave 
his horsemen orders to advance. They charged accordingly, 
at full gallop. It must have been a terrible thing to have seen 
these fine horses riding as hard as they could against the long 
lances, which were held out by the Scots to keep them back; 
and a dreadful cry arose when they came against each other. 

The first line of cavalry was commanded by the Earl 
Marshal of England, whose progress was checked by a morass. 
The second line of English horse was commanded by Antony 
Beck, the Bishop of Durham, who, nevertheless, wore armor, 
and fought like a lay baron. He wheeled round the morass; 
but when he saw the deep and firm order of the Scots, his 
heart failed, and he proposed to Sir Ralph Basset of Drayton, 
who commanded under him, to halt till Edward himself 
brought up the reserve. “ Go say your mass, bishop,” 
answered Basset contemptuously, and advanced at full gallop 
with the second line. However, the Scots stood their ground 
with their long spears; many of the foremost of the English 
horses were thrown down, and the riders were killed as they 

1 See map. 


88 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


lay rolling, unable to rise, owing to the weight of their heavy 
armor. 

But the Scottish horse did not come to the assistance of 
their infantry, but, on the contrary, fled away from the battle. 
It is supposed that this was owing to the treachery or ill-will 
of the nobility, who were jealous of Wallace. But it must 
be considered that the Scottish cavalry were few in number, 
and that they had much worse arms and weaker horses than 
their enemies. The English cavalry attempted again and 
again to disperse the deep and solid ranks in which Wallace 
had stationed his foot soldiers. But they were repeatedly 
beaten off with loss, nor could they make their way through 
that wood of spears, as it is called by one of the English his- 
torians. King Edward then commanded his archers to ad- 
vance; and these approaching within arrow-shot of the Scot- 
tish ranks, poured on them such, close and dreadful volleys of 
arrows, that it was impossible to sustain the discharge. It 
happened at the same time, that Sir John Stewart was killed 
by a fall from his horse; and the archers of Ettrick Forest, 
w T hom he was bringing forward to oppose those of King 
Edward, were slain in great numbers around him. Their 
bodies were afterwards distinguished among the slain as being 
the tallest and handsomest men of the army. 

The Scottish spearmen being thus thrown into some degree 
of cbnfusion by the loss of those who were slain by the arrows 
of the English, the heavy cavalry of Edward again charged 
with more success than formerly, and broke through the 
ranks, which were already disordered. Sir John Grahame, 
Wallace’s great friend and companion, was slain, with many 
other brave soldiers; and the Scots, having lost a very great 
number of men, were at length obliged to take to flight. 

This fatal battle was fought upon 22d July, 1298. Sir 
John the Grahame lies buried in the churchyard of Falkirk. 
A tombstone was laid over him, which has been three times 
renewed since his death. The inscription bears that “ Sir 


SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 


39 


John the Grahame, equally remarkable for wisdom and cour- 
age, and the faithful friend of Wallace, being slain in battle 
by the English, lies buried in this place.” A large oak-tree 
in the adjoining forest was long shown as marking the spot 
where Wallace slept before the battle, or, as others said, in 
which he hid himself after the defeat; but there is not now, 
and has not been for many years, the least vestige of it to be 
seen. 

After this fatal defeat of Falkirk, Sir William Wallace 
seems to have resigned his office of Governor of Scotland. 
Several nobles were named guardians in his place, and con- 
tinued to make resistance to the English armies; and they 
gained some advantages, particularly near Eoslin, where a 
body of Scots, commanded by John Comyn of Badenoch, who 
was one of the guardians of the kingdom, and another dis- 
tinguished commander, called Simon Fraser, defeated three 
armies, or detachments, of English in one day. 

Nevertheless, the King of England possessed so much 
wealth, and so many means of raising soldiers, that he sent 
army after army into the poor, oppressed country of Scotland, 
and obliged all its nobles and great men, one after another, 
to submit themselves once more to his yoke. Sir William 
Wallace, alone, or with a very small band of followers, refused 
either to acknowledge the usurper Edward, or to lay down his 
arms. He continued to maintain himself among the woods 
and mountains of his native country for no less than seven - 
years after his defeat at Falkirk, and for more than one year 
after all the other defenders of Scottish liberty had laid 
down their arms. Many proclamations were sent out against 
him by the English, and a great reward was set upon his 
head; for Edward did not think he could have any secure 
possession of his usurped kingdom of Scotland while Wallace 
lived. 

At length he was taken prisoner; and, shame it is to say, a 
Scotsman, called Sir John Menteith, was the person by whom 


40 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


he was seized and delivered to the English. It is generally 
said that he was made prisoner at Robroyston, near Glasgow ; 1 
and the tradition of the country bears that the signal made 
for rushing upon him and taking him unawares was, when 
one of his pretended friends, who betrayed him, should turn a 
loaf, which was placed upon the table, with its bottom or flat 
side uppermost. And in after times it was reckoned ill- 
breeding to turn a loaf in that manner, if there was a person 
named Menteith in company; since it was as much as to re- 
mind him that his namesake had betrayed Sir William 
Wallace, the Champion of Scotland. 

Whether Sir John Menteith was actually the person by 
whom Wallace was betrayed is not perfectly certain. He was, 
however, the individual by whom the patriot was made pris- 
oner, and delivered up to the English, for which his name and 
his memory have been long loaded with disgrace. 

Edward having thus obtained possession of the person 
whom he considered as the greatest obstacle to his complete 
conquest of Scotland, resolved to make Wallace an example 
to all Scottish patriots who should in future venture to oppose 
his ambitious projects. He caused this gallant defender of 
his country to be brought to trial in Westminster Hall, Lon- 
don, before the English judges, and produced him there, 
crowned, in mockery, with a green garland, because they said 
he had been king of outlaws and robbers among the Scottish 
woods. 

Wallace was accused of having been a traitor to the English 
crown; to which he answered, “ I could not be a traitor to 
Edward, for I was never his subject.” He was then charged 
with having taken and burnt towns and castles, with having 
killed many men and done much violence. He replied, with 
the same calm resolution, that it was true he had killed very 
many Englishmen, but it was because they had come to sub- 
due and oppress his native country of Scotland; and far from 

1 See map. 


ROBERT THE BRUCE. 


41 


repenting what he had done, he declared he was only sorry 
that he had not put to death many more of them. 

Notwithstanding that Wallace’s defence was a good one, 
both in law and in common sense (for surely every one has 
not only a right, to fight in defence of his native country, but 
is bound in duty to do so), the English judges condemned 
him to be executed. So this brave patriot was dragged upon 
a sledge to the place of execution, where his head was struck 
off, and his body divided into quarters, which, according to 
the cruel custom of the time, were exposed upon spikes of 
iron on London Bridge, and were termed the limbs of a 
traitor. 

No doubt King Edward thought that by exercising this 
great severity towards so distinguished a patriot as Sir William 
Wallace, he should terrify all the Scots into obedience, and 
so be able in future to reign over their country without resis- 
tance. But though Edward was a powerful, a brave, and a 
wise king, and though he took the most cautious, as well as 
the most strict measures, to preserve the obedience of Scot- 
land, yet his claim being founded in injustice and usurpation, 
was not permitted by Providence to be established in secur- 
ity or peace. Sir William Wallace, that immortal supporter 
of the independence of his country, was no sooner deprived 
of his life than other patriots arose to assert the cause of 
Scottish liberty. 


CHAPTER III. 

ROBERT THE BRUCE. 

All the cruel wars in Scotland in those times arose out of 
a debate between the great lords who claimed the throne 
after King Alexander the Third’s death, which induced the 
Scottish nobility rashly to submit the decision of that matter 
to King Edward of England, and thus opened the way to 


42 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


his endeavoring to seize the kingdom of Scotland to himself. 
Edward had dethroned John Baliol on account of his at- 
tempting to restore the independence of Scotland, and Baliol 
had resigned the crown of Scotland into the hands of Edward 
as lord paramount. This John Baliol, therefore, was very 
little respected in Scotland; he had renounced the kingdom, 
and had been absent from it for fifteen years, during the 
greater part of which time he remained a prisoner in the 
hands of the King of England. 

It was therefore natural that such of the people of Scotland 
as were still determined to fight for the deliverance of their 
country from the English yoke, should look around for some 
other king, under whom they might unite themselves to 
combat the power of England. The feeling was universal in 
Scotland that they would not any longer endure the English 
government; and therefore such great Scottish nobles as be- 
lieved they had right to the crown began to think of standing 
forward to claim it. 

Amongst these the principal candidates (supposing John 
Baliol, by his renunciation and captivity, to have lost all right 
to the kingdom) were two powerful noblemen. The first 
was Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, the grandson of an 
elder Robert Bruce, who disputed the throne with John 
Baliol. The other was John Comyn, or Cuming, of Baden- 
och, usually called the Red Comyn, to distinguish him from 
his kinsman, the Black Comyn, so named from his swarthy 
complexion. 

These two great and powerful barons had taken part with 
Sir William Wallace in the wars against England; hut, after 
the defeat of Falkirk, being fearful of losing their great 
estates, and considering the freedom of Scotland as beyond 
the possibility of being recovered, both Bruce and Comyn had 
not only submitted themselves to Edward, and acknowledged 
his title as King of Scotland, hut even borne arms, along with 
the English, against such of their countrymen as still con- 


ROBERT THE BRUCE. 


43 


tinued to resist the usurper. But the feelings of Bruce con- 
cerning the baseness of this conduct are said, by the old tra- 
ditions of Scotland, to have been awakened by the following 
incident. 

In one of the numerous battles, or skirmishes, which took 
place at the time between the English and their adherents 
on the one side, and the insurgent or patriotic Scots upon the 
other, Robert the Bruce was present, and assisted the English 
to gain the victory. After the battle was over he sat down 
to dinner among his southern friends and allies without wash- 
ing his hands, on which there still remained spots of the blood 
which he had shed during the action. The English*lords, 
observing this, whispered to each other in mockery, “ Look 
at that Scotsman, who is eating his own blood! 99 Bruce 
heard what they said, and began to reflect that the blood 
upon his hands might be indeed called his own, since it was 
that of his. brave countrymen, who were fighting for the 
independence of Scotland, whilst he was assisting its oppres- 
sors, who only laughed at and mocked him for his unnatural 
conduct. He was so much shocked and disgusted that he 
arose from table, and, going into a neighboring chapel, shed 
many tears, and asking pardon of God for the great crime he 
had been guilty of, made a solemn vow that he would atone 
for it by doing all in his power to deliver Scotland from the 
foreign yoke. Accordingly, he left, it is said, the English 
army, and never joined it again, but remained watching an 
opportunity for restoring the freedom of his country. 

How, this Robert the Bruce was a remarkably brave and 
strong man: there was no man in Scotland that was thought 
a match for him except Sir William Wallace; and now that 
Wallace was dead, Bruce was held the best warrior in Scot- 
land. He was very wise and prudent, and an excellent general: 
that is, he knew how to conduct an army, and place them in 
order for battle, as well as, or better than, any great man of 
his time. He was generous, too, and courteous by nature; 


44 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


but he had some faults, which perhaps belonged as much to 
the fierce period in which he lived as to his own character. 
He was rash and passionate, and in his passion he was some- 
times relentless and cruel. 

Robert the Bruce had fixed his purpose to attempt once 
again to drive the English out of Scotland, and he desired 
to prevail upon Sir John, the Red Comyn, who was his rival 
in his claims to the throne, to join with him in expelling 
the foreign enemy by their common efforts. With this pur- 
pose Bruce posted down from London to Dumfries , 1 on the 
borders of Scotland, and requested an interview with John 
Comyn. They met in the church of the Minorites 2 in that 
town, before the high altar. What passed betwixt them is not 
known with certainty; but they quarrelled, either concerning 
their mutual claims to the crown, or because Comyn refused 
to join Bruce against the English; or, as many writers say, 
because Bruce charged Comyn with having betrayed to the 
English his purpose of rising up against King Edward. 

It is, however, certain that these two haughty barons came 
to h^h and abusive words, until at length Bruce forgot the 
sacred character of the place in which they stood, and struck 
Comyn a blow with his dagger. Having done this rash deed, 
he instantly ran out of the church and called for his horse. 
Two gentlemen of the country, Lindesay and Kirkpatrick, 
friends of Bruce, were then in attendance on him. Seeing 
him pale, bloody, and in much agitation, thy eagerly inquired 
what was the matter. 

“ 1 doubt,” said Bruce, “ that I have slain the Red Comyn.” 

“ Do y°u leave such a matter in doubt? ” said Kirkpatrick. 

I will make sicker! ” — that is, I will make certain. 

Accoidingly, he and his companion Lindesay rushed into 
the church, and made the matter certain, by despatching the 
wounded Comyn with their daggers. His uncle. Sir Robert 
Comyn, was slain at the same time. 

1 See map ‘ 3 fri are or priests of the order of St. Francis. 


ROBERT THE BRUCE. 


45 


This slaughter of Comyn was a rash and cruel action; and 
the historian of Bruce observes that it was followed by the 
displeasure of Heaven; for no man ever went through more 
misfortunes than Robert Bruce, although he at length rose 
to great honor. 

After the deed was done, Bruce might he called desperate. 
He had committed an action which was sure to bring down 
upon him the vengeance of all Comyn’s relations, the resent- 
ment of the King of England, and the displeasure of the 
Church, on account of having slain his enemy within conse- 
crated ground. He determined, therefore, to hid them all 
defiance at once, and to assert his pretensions to the throne 
of Scotland. He drew his own followers together, summoned 
to meet him such barons as still entertained hopes of the free- 
dom of the country, and was crowned King at the Abbey of 
Scone , 1 the usual place where the Kings of Scotland assumed 
their authority. 

Everything relating to the ceremony was hastily per- 
formed. A small circlet of gold was hurriedly made, to repre- 
sent the ancient crown of Scotland, which Edward had carried 
off to England. The Earl of Fife, descendant of the brave 
Macduff, whose duty it was to have placed the crown on the 
King’s head, would not give his attendance. But the cere- 
monial was performed by his sister, Isabella, Countess of 
Buchan, though without the consent either of her brother or 
husband. A few barons, whose names ought to be dear to 
their country, joined Bruce in his attempt to win the inde- 
pendence of Scotland. 

Edward was dreadfully angry when he heard that, after all 
the pains which he had taken, and all the blood which had 
been spilled, the Scots were making this new attempt to shake 
off his authority. Though now old, feeble, and sickly, he 
made a solemn vow, at a great festival, in presence of all his 
court that he would take vengeance upon Robert the Bruce 

1 See map. 


46 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


and his supporters; after which he would never again draw 
his sword upon a Christian, hut would only fight against the 
unbelieving Saracens for the recovery of the Holy Land. 1 
He marched against Bruce accordingly, at the head of a 
powerful army. 

The commencement of Bruce’s undertaking was most dis- 
astrous. He was crowned on 29th March, 1306. On the 
18th May he was excommunicated by the Pope, on account 
of the murder of Comyn within consecrated ground, a sen- 
tence which excluded him from all the benefits of religion, 
and authorized any one to kill him. Finally, on the 19 th 
June, the new King was completely defeated near Methven 2 
by the English Earl of Pembroke. Robert’s horse was killed 
under him in the action, and he was for a moment a prisoner. 
But he had fallen into the power of a Scottish knight, who, 
though he served in the English army, did not choose to be 
the instrument of putting Bruce into their hands, and allowed 
him to escape. 

Bruce, with a few brave followers, among whom was the 
young Lord of Douglas, who was afterwards called the Good 
Lord James, retired into the Highland mountains, where 
they were chased from one place to another, often in great 
danger, and suffering many hardships. The Bruce’s wife, 
now Queen of Scotland, with several other ladies, accompanied 
her husband and his followers during their wanderings. 
There was no other way of providing for them save by hunt- 
ing and fishing. It was remarked that Douglas was the most 
active and successful in procuring for the unfortunate ladies 
such supplies as his skill in fishing or in killing deer could 
furnish to them. 

Driven from one place in the Highlands to another, starved 
out of some districts, and forced from others by the opposition 
of the inhabitants, Bruce attempted to make his way into 
Lorn; 3 but he found enemies everywhere. The McDougals, 

1 See pages 91, 92. 2 See map. 3 a district of Argyle ; see map. 


ROBERT THE BRUCE. 


47 


a powerful family, then called Lords of Lorn, were friendly 
to the English, and putting their men in arms, attacked 
Bruce and his wandering companions as soon as they at- 
tempted to enter their territory. The chief of these 
McDougals, called John of Lorn, hated Bruce on account of 
his having slain the Bed Comyn, to whom this McDougal was 
nearly related. Bruce was again defeated by this chief, 
through force of numbers at a place called Dairy ; 1 hut he 
showed, amidst his misfortunes, the greatness of his strength 
and courage. He directed his men to retreat through a 
narrow pass, and placing himself last of the party, he fought 
with and slew such of the enemy as attempted to press hard 
on them. 

Three followers of McDougal, a father and two sons, called 
McAndrosser, all very strong men, when they saw Bruce thus 
protecting the retreat of his followers, made a vow that they 
would either kill the champion or make him prisoner. The 
whole three rushed on the King at once. Bruce was on horse- 
back, in the pass we have described, betwixt a precipitous rock 
and a deep lake. He attacked the first man who came up, 
seized his horse’s rein, and struck him such a blow with his 
sword as cut off his hand and freed the bridle. The man 
bled to death. The other brother had grasped Bruce in the 
meantime by the leg, and was attempting to throw him from 
horseback. The King, setting spurs to his horse, made the 
animal suddenly spring forward, so that the Highlander fell 
under the horse’s feet; and, as he was endeavoring to rise 
again, Bruce cleft his head in two with his sword. 

The father, seeing his two sons thus slain, flew desperately 
at the King, and grasped him by the mantle so close to his 
body that he could not have room to wield his long sword. 
But with the heavy pommel of that weapon, or, as others say, 
with an iron hammer which hung at his saddle-bow, the King 
struck his third assailant so dreadful a blow that he dashed 


1 See map. 


48 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


out his brains. Still, however, the Highlander kept his dying 
grasp on the King’s mantle; so that, to be free of the dead 
body, Bruce was obliged to undo the brooch, or clasp, by 
which it was fastened, and leave that, and the mantle itself, 
behind him. The brooch, which fell thus into the possession 
of McDougal of Lorn, is still preserved in that ancient family 
as a memorial that the celebrated Robert Bruce once narrowly 
escaped falling into the hands of their ancestors. 

The King met with many such encounters amidst his 
dangerous wanderings; yet, though almost always defeated by 
the superior numbers of the English, and of such Scots as 
sided with them, he still kept up his own spirits and those, 
of his followers. He was a better scholar than was usual in 
those days, when, except clergymen, few people received much 
education. But King Robert had been well instructed in 
the learning of the times; and we are told that he sometimes 
read aloud to his companions to amuse them when they were 
crossing the great Highland lakes in such wretched, leaky! 
boats as they could find for that purpose. 

At last dangers increased so much around the brave King 
Robert that he was obliged to separate himself from his' 
Queen and her ladies; for the winter was coming on, and it 
would be impossible for the women to endure this wandering 
sort of life when the frost and snow should set in. So Bruce 
left his Queen, with the Countess of Buchan and others, in 
the only castle which remained to him, which was called Kil- 
drummie, and is situated near the head of the River Don in 
Aberdeenshire. 1 The King also left his youngest brother, 
Nigel Bruce, to defend the castle against the English; and he 
himself, with his second brother Edward, who was a very 
brave man, but still more rash and passionate than Robert 
himself, went over to an island called Rachrin, on the coast 
of Ireland, where Bruce and the few men that followed his 
fortunes passed the winter of 1306. 

1 See map. 


ROBERT THE BRUCE. 


49 


In the meantime ill luck seemed to pursue all his friends 
in Scotland. The Castle of Kildrummie was taken by the 
English, and Nigel Bruce, a beautiful and brave youth, was 
cruelly put to death by the victors. The ladies who had at- 
tended on Bobert’s Queen, as well as the Queen herself, and 
the Countess of Buchan, were thrown into strict confinement 
and treated with the utmost severity. 

The Countess of Buchan had given Edward great offence 
by being the person who placed the crown on the head of 
Kobert Bruce. She was imprisoned within the Castle of 
Berwick , 1 in a cage made on purpose. Some Scottish authors 
have said that this cage was hung over the walls with the~ 
poor countess, like a parrot’s cage out at a window. But this 
is their own ignorant idea. The cage of the Lady Buchan 
was a strong wooden and iron piece of frame-work, set within 
an apartment, and resembling one of those places in which 
wild beasts are confined. There were such cages in most old 
prisons to which captives were consigned, who, either for 
mutiny, or any other reason, were to be confined with peculiar 
rigor. 

BRUCE AND THE SPIDER. 

r 

The news of the taking of Kildrummie, the captivity of his 
wife, and the execution of his brother, reached Bruce while 
he was residing in a miserable dwelling at Bachrin, and re- 
duced him to the point of despair. 

It was about this time that an incident took place, which, 
although it rests only on tradition in families of the name of 
Bruce, is rendered probable by the manners of the times. 
After receiving the last unpleasing intelligence from Scot- 
land, Bruce was lying one morning on his wretched bed, and 
deliberating with himself whether he had not better resign all 
thoughts of again attempting to obtain the Scottish crown, 

1 See map. 


4 


60 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


and, dismissing his followers, transport himself and his 
brothers to the Holy Land, and spend the rest of his life in 
fighting against the Saracens. By this he thought, perhaps, 
be might deserve the forgiveness of Heaven for the great sin 
of stabbing Comyn in the church at Dumfries. But then, 
on the other hand, he thought it would he both criminal and 
cowardly to give up his attempts to restore freedom to Scot- 
land, while there yet remained the least chance of his being 
successful. 

While be w T as divided betwixt these reflections, and doubt- 
ful of what he should do, Bruce was looking upward to the 
roof of the cabin in which he lay; and his eye was attracted 
by a spider, which, hanging at the end of a long thread of its 
own spinning, was endeavoring, as is the fashion of that 
creature, to swing itself from one beam in the roof to another, 
for the purpose of fixing the line on which it meant to stretch 
its web. The insect made the attempt again and again with- 
out success; and at length Bruce counted that it had tried 
to carry its point six times, and been as often unable to do so. 
It came into his head that he had himself fought just six 
battles against the English and their allies, and that the poor 
persevering spider was exactly in the same situation with him- 
self, having made as many trials, and been as often disap- 
pointed in what it aimed at. 

“Now,” thought Bruce, “as I have no means of knowing 
what is best to be done, I will be guided by the luck which 
shall attend this spider. If the insect shall make another 
effort to fix its thread, and shall be successful, I will venture 
a seventh time to try my fortune in Scotland; but if the 
spider shall fail I will go to the wars in Palestine, and never 
return to my native country more.” 

While Bruce was forming this resolution, the spider made 
another exertion with all the force it could muster, and fairly 
succeeded in fastening its thread to the beam which it had so 
often in vain attempted to reach. Bruce, seeing the success 


ROBERT THE BRUCE. 


51 


of the spider, resolved to try his own fortune; and as he had 
never before gained a victory, so he never afterwards suffered 
any great check or defeat. I have often met with people 
of the name of Bruce so completely persuaded of the truth 
of this story that they would not on any account kill a spider; 
because it was that insect which had shown the example of 
perseverance and given a signal of good luck to their great 
namesake. 


ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES. 

Having determined to renew his efforts to obtain possession 
of Scotland, notwithstanding the smallness of the means 
which he had for accomplishing so great a purpose, the Bruce 
removed himself and his followers from Rachrin to the Island 
of Arran , 1 which lies in the mouth of the Clyde. The King 
landed, and inquired of the first woman he met what armed 
men were on the island. She returned for answer that there 
had arrived there very lately a body of armed strangers, who 
had defeated an English officer, the governor of the Castle of 
Brathwick, had killed him and most of his men, and were now 
amusing themselves with hunting about the island. 

The King, having caused himself to be guided to the woods 
which these strangers most frequented, there blew his horn 
repeatedly. Now, the chief of the strangers who had taken 
the castle was James Douglas, one of the best of Bruce’s 
friends. When he heard Robert Bruce’s horn, he knew the 
sound well, and cried out that that was the King, for he 
knew by his manner of blowing. So he and his companions 
hastened to meet King Robert, and there was great joy on 
both sides. 

The Bruce was now within sight of Scotland, and not dis- 
tant from his own family possessions, where the people were 
most likely to be attached to him. He began immediately to 

1 See map. 




52 TALES OP A GRANDFATHER. 

form plans with Douglas how they might best renew their 
enterprise against the English. The Douglas resolved to go 
disguised to his own country, and raise his followers, in order 
to begin their enterprise by taking revenge on an English 
nobleman called Lord Clifford, to whom Edward had given 
his estates, and who had taken up his residence in the Castle 
of Douglas. 

Bruce, on his part, sent a message to the opposite coast of 
Carrick 1 by one of his followers called Cuthbert. This per- 
son was directed that if he should find the countrymen in 
Carrick willing to take up arms against the English, he was to 
make a fire on a headland, or lofty cape, called Turnberry, on 
the coast of Ayrshire , 1 opposite to the Island of Arran. The 
appearance of a fire on this place was to be a signal for Bruce 
to put to sea with such men as he had, who were not more 
than three hundred in number, for the purpose of landing in 
Carrick and joining the insurgents. 

Bruce and his men watched eagerly for the signal, but for 
some time in vain. At length a fire on Turnberry-head be- 
came visible, and the King and his followers merrily betook 
themselves to their ships. They landed on the beach at 
midnight, where they found Cuthbert alone in waiting for 
them, with very bad news. Lord Percy, he said, was in the 
country, with two or three hundred Englishmen, and had 
terrified the people so much, both by threats and actions, that 
none of them dared to think of rebelling against King 
Edward. 

“ Traitor! ” said Bruce, “ why, then, did you make the 
signal? ” 

“ Alas,” replied Cuthbert, “ the fire was not made by me, 
but by some other person, for what purpose I know not; but 
as soon as I saw it burning I knew that you would come over, 
thinking it my signal, and therefore I came down to wait for 
you on the beach, to tell you how the matter stood.” 

1 See map. 


ROBERT THE BRUCE. 


53 


King Robert’s first idea was to return to Arran after this 
disappointment; but his brother Edward refused to go back. 
“ I will not leave my native land/’ he said, “ now that I am 
restored to it. I will give freedom to Scotland, or leave my 
carcass on the surface of the land which gave me birth.” 

Bruce, also, after some hesitation, determined that since he 
had been thus brought to the mainland of Scotland, he would 
remain there, and take such adventure and fortune as Heaven 
should send him. 

Accordingly, he began to skirmish with the English so 
successfully as obliged the Lord Percy to quit Carrick. Bruce 
then sent his men upon various adventures against the enemy, 
in which they were generally successful. But then, on the 
other hand, the King, being left with small attendance, or 
sometimes almost alone, ran great risk of losing his life by 
treachery or by open violence. Several of these incidents are 
very interesting. 

At one time, a near relation of Bruce’s was induced by the 
bribes of the English to attempt to put him to death. This 
villain, with his two sons, watched the King one morning, 
till he saw him separated from all his men, except a little 
boy, who waited on him as a page. The father had a sword 
in bis hand, one of the sons had a sword and a spear, the other 
had a sword and a battle-ax. 

Now, when the King saw them so well armed, while no 
enemies were near, he began to call to mind some hints which 
had been given to him that these men intended to murder 
him. He had no weapons except his sword; but his page had 
a bow and arrow. He took them both from the little boy and 
bade him s-tand at a distance; “for,” said the King, “if I 
overcome these traitors, thou shalt have enough of weapons; 
but if I am slain by them, you may make your escape, and 
tell Douglas and my brother to revenge my death.” The boy 
was very sorry, for he loved his master; but he was obliged to 
do as he was bidden. 


54 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


In the meantime the traitors came forward upon Bruce 
that they might assault him at rnce. The King called out to 
them, and commanded them to come no nearer, upon peril of 
their lives; but the father answered with flattering words, pre- 
tending great kindness, and still continuing to approach. 
Then the King again called to them to stand. “ Traitors,” 
said he, “ ye have sold my life for English gold; hut you shall 
die if you come one foot nearer to me.” With that he bent 
the page’s bow; and as the man continued to advance, he let 
the arrow fly at him. Bruce was an excellent archer; he 
aimed his arrow so well that it hit the father in the eye, and 
penetrated from that into his brain, so that he fell down 
dead. 

Then the two sons rushed on the King. One of them made 
a blow at him with an ax, but missed his stroke, and 
stumbled, so that the King with his great sword cut him down 
before he could recover his feet. The remaining traitor ran 
on Bruce with his spear; but the King, with a sweep of his 
sword, cut the steel head off the villain’s weapon, and then 
killed him before he had time to draw his sword. Then the 
little page came running, very joyful of his master’s victory. 

After the death of these three traitors, Robert the Bruce 
continued to keep himself concealed in his own earldom of 
Carrick, and in the neighboring district of Galloway , 1 until 
he should have matters ready for a general attack upon the 
English. He was obliged, in the meantime, to keep very few 
men with him, both for the sake of secrecy and from the 
difficulty of finding provisions. Now, many of the people of 
Galloway were unfriendly to Bruce. They lived under the 
government of one McDougal, related to the Lord of Lorn, 
who had defeated Bruce at Hairy, and very nearly killed or 
made him prisoner. These Galloway men had heard that 
Bruce was in their country, having no more than sixty men 
with him; so they resolved to attack him by surprise, and 

1 See map. 


ROBERT THE BRUCE. 


55 


for this purpose they got two hundred men together, and 
brought with them two or three bloodhounds. 

These animals were trained to chase a man by the scent of 
his footsteps, as foxhounds chase a fox, or as beagles and 
harriers chase a hare. Although the dog does not see the 
person whose trace he is put upon, he follows him over every 
step he has taken. At that time these bloodhounds, or sleuth- 
hounds (so called from slot, or sleut, a word which signifies 
the scent left by an animal of chase), were used for the pur- 
pose of pursuing great criminals. The men of Galloway 
thought themselves secure, that if they missed taking Bruce, 
or killing him at the first onset, and if he should escape into 
the woods, they would find him out by means of these blood- 
hounds. 

The good King Robert Bruce, who was always watchful and 
vigilant, had received some information of the intention of 
this party to come upon him suddenly and by night. Accord- 
ingly, he quartered his little troop of sixty men on the side 
of a deep and swift-running river that had very steep and 
rocky banks. There was but one ford by which this river 
could be crossed in that neighborhood, and that ford was 
deep and narrow, so that two men could scarcely get through 
abreast; the ground on which they were to land on the side 
where the King was, was steep, and the path which led up- 
wards from the water’s edge to the top of the bank, extremely 
narrow and difficult. 

Bruce caused his men to lie down to take some sleep at a 
place about half a mile distant from the river, while he him- 
self, with two attendants, went down to watch the ford, 
through which the enemy must pass before they could come 
to the place where King Robert’s men were lying. He stood 
for some time looking at the ford, and thinking how easily 
the enemy might be kept from passing there, providing it was 
bravely defended, when he heard at a distance the baying of 
a hound, which was always coming nearer and nearer. This 


56 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


was the bloodhound which was tracing the King’s steps to 
the ford where he had crossed, and the two hundred Galloway 
men were along with the animal, and guided by it. 

Bruce at first thought of going back to awaken his men; 
but then he reflected that it might be only some shepherd’s 
dog. “ My men,” he said, “ are sorely tired; I will not dis- 
turb their sleep for the yelping of a cur till I know something 
more of the matter.” So he stood and listened; and by and 
by, as the cry of the hound came nearer, he began to hear a 
trampling of horses, and the voices of men, and the ringing 
and clattering of armor, and then he was sure the enemy 
were coming to the river side. 

Then the King thought, “ If I go back to give my men the 
alarm, these Galloway men will get through the ford without 
opposition; and that would be a pity, since it is a place so 
advantageous to make defence against them.” So he looked 
again at the steep path and the deep river, and he thought 
that they gave him so much advantage that he himself could 
defend the passage with his own hand until his men came to 
assist him. His armor was so good and strong that he had 
no fear of arrows, and therefore the combat was not so very 
unequal as it must have otherwise been. He therefore sent 
his followers to waken his men, and remained alone by the 
bank of the river. 

In the meanwhile the noise and trampling of the horses 
increased; and the moon being bright, Bruce beheld the 
glancing arms of about two hundred men, who came down to 
the opposite bank of the river. The men of Galloway, on 
their part, saw but one solitary figure guarding the ford, and 
the foremost of them plunged into the river without minding 
him. 

But as they could pass the ford only one by one, the Bruce, 
who stood high above them on the bank where they were to 
land, killed the foremost man with a thrust of his long spear, 
and with a second thrust stabbed the horse, which fell down. 


ROBERT THE BRUCE. 


57 


kicking and plunging in his agonies, on the narrow path, 
and so prevented the others who were following from getting 
out of the river. Bruce had thus an opportunity of dealing 
his blows at pleasure among them, while they could not strike 
at him again. In the confusion five or six of the enemy were 
slain, or, having been borne down the current, were drowned 
in the river. The rest were terrified and drew hack. 

But when the Galloway men looked again, and saw they 
were opposed by only one man, they themselves being so 
many, they cried out that their honor would he lost forever 
if they did not force their way, and encouraged each other 
with loud cries to plunge through and assault him. But by 
this time the King’s soldiers came up to his assistance, and the 
Galloway men retreated, and gave up their enterprise. 

I will tell another story of this brave Robert Bruce during 
his wanderings. His adventures are as curious and enter- 
taining as those which men invent for story books, with this 
advantage, that they are all true. 

About the time when the Bruce was yet at the head of 
hut few men. Sir Aymer de Valence, who was Earl of Pem- 
broke, together with John of Lorn, came into Galloway, each 
of them being at the head of a large body of men. John of 
Lorn had a bloodhound with him, which it was said had 
formerly belonged to Robert Bruce himself; and having been 
fed by the King with his own hands, it became attached to 
him, and would follow his footsteps anywhere, as dogs are 
well known to trace their master’s steps, whether they he 
bloodhounds or not. By means of this hound, John of Lorn 
thought he should certainly find out Bruce, and take revenge 
on him for the death of his relation Comyn. 

When these two armies advanced upon King Robert, he at 
first thought of fighting with the English earl; hut becoming 
aware that John of- Lorn was moving round with another 
large body to attack him in the rear, he resolved to avoid 
fighting at that time, lest he should be oppressed by numbers. 


58 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


For this purpose the King divided the men he had with him 
into three bodies, and commanded them to retreat by three 
different ways, thinking the enemy would not know which 
party to pursue. He also appointed a place at which they 
were to assemble again. But when John of Lorn came to 
the place where the army of Bruce had been thus divided, the 
bloodhound took his course after one of these divisions, 
neglecting the other two, and then John of Lorn knew that 
the King must be in that party; so he also made no pursuit 
after the two other divisions of the Scots, but, with all his 
men, followed that which the dog pointed out. 

The King again saw that he was followed by a large body, 
and being determined to escape from them, if possible, he 
made all the people who were with him disperse themselves 
different ways, thinking thus that the enemy must needs lose 
trace of him. He kept only one man along with him, and 
that was his own foster-brother, or the son of his nurse. 
When John of Lorn came to the place where Bruce’s com- 
panions had dispersed themselves, the bloodhound, after it 
had snuffed up and down for a little, quitted the footsteps of 
all the other fugitives, and ran barking upon the track of two 
men out of the whole number. 

Then J ohn of Lorn knew that one of these two must needs 
be King Robert. Accordingly, he commanded five of his 
men that were speedy of foot to follow hard, and either make 
him prisoner or slay him. The Highlanders started off ac- 
cordingly, and ran so fast that they gained sight of Robert 
and his foster-brother. The King asked his companion what 
help he could give him, and his foster-brother answered he 
was ready to do his best. So these two turned on the five 
men of John of Lorn and killed them all. It is to be sup- 
posed they were better armed than the others were, as well as 
stronger and more desperate. 

But by this time Bruce was very much fatigued, and yet 
they dared not sit down to take any rest; for whenever they 


ROBERT THE BRUCE. 


59 


stopped for an instant, they heard the cry of the bloodhound 
behind them, and knew by that that their enemies were com- 
ing up fast after them. At length they came to a wood, 
through which ran a small river. Then Bruce said to his 
foster-brother, “ Let us wade down this stream for a great 
way, instead of going straight across, and so this unhappy 
hound will lose the scent; for if we were once clear of him, 
I should not be afraid of getting away from the pursuers.” 

Accordingly the King and his attendant walked a great way 
down the stream, taking care to keep their feet in the water, 
which could not retain any scent where they had stepped. 
Then they came ashore on the further side from the enemy, 
and went deep into the wood before they stopped to rest 
themselves. In the meanwhile the hound led John of Lorn 
straight to the place where the King went into the water, 
hut there the dog began to he puzzled, not knowing where to 
go next; for the running water could not retain the scent of 
a man’s foot, like that which remains on turf. So, John of 
Lorn seeing the dog was at fault, as it is called, that is, had 
lost the track of what he pursued, gave up the chase, and 
returned to join with Aymer de Valence. 

But King Robert’s adventures were not yet ended. His 
foster-brother and he had rested themselves in the wood, but 
they had got no food, and were become extremely hungry. 
They walked on, however, in hopes of coming to some habita- 
tion. At length, in the midst of the forest, they met with 
three men who looked like thieves or ruffians. They were 
well armed, and one of them bore a sheep on his back, which 
it seemed as if they had just stolen. They saluted the King 
civilly; and he, replying to their salutation, asked them where 
they were going. The men answered they were seeking for 
Robert Bruce, for that they intended to join with him. The 
King answered that if they would go with him, he would 
conduct them where they would find the Scottish King. 
Then the man who had spoken changed countenance, and 


60 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


Bruce, who looked sharply at him, began to suspect that the 
ruffian guessed who he was, and that he and his companions 
had some design against his person, in order to gain the re- 
ward which had been ottered for his life. 

So he said to them, “My good friends, as we are not well 
acquainted with each other, you must go before us, and we 
will follow near to you.” 

“ You have no occasion to suspect any harm from us,” 
answered the man. 

“Neither do I suspect any,” said Bruce; “hut this is the 
way in which I choose to travel.” 

The men did as he commanded, and thus they travelled 
till they came together to a waste and ruinous cottage, where 
the men proposed to dress some part of the sheep, which their 
companion was carrying. The King was glad to hear of food; 
but he insisted that there should he two fires kindled, one 
for himself and his foster-brother at one end of the house, 
the other at the other end for their three companions. The 
men did as he desired. They broiled a quarter of mutton for 
themselves, and gave another to the King and his attendant. 
They were obliged to eat it without bread or salt; hut as 
.they were very hungry, they were glad to get food in any 
shape, and partook of it very heartily. 

Then so heavy a drowsiness fell on King Bobert that, for 
all the danger he was in, he could not resist an inclination to 
sleep. But first he desired his foster-brother to watch while 
he slept, for he had great suspicion of their new acquaintances. 
His foster-brother promised to keep awake, and did his best 
to keep his word. But the King had not been long asleep ere 
his foster-brother fell into a deep slumber also, for he had 
undergone as much fatigue as the King. When the three 
villains saw the King and his attendant asleep, they made 
signs to each other, and rising up at once, drew their swords 
with the purpose to kill them both. But the King slept but 
lightly, and for as little noise as the traitors made in rising, 


ROBERT THE BRUCE. 


61 


ho was awakened by it, and starting up, drew his sword, and 
went to meet them. At the same moment he pushed his 
foster-brother with his foot to awaken him, and he got on his 
feet; but ere he got his eyes cleared to see what was about to 
happen, one of the ruffians that were advancing to slay the 
King killed him with a stroke of his sword. 

The King was now alone, one man against three, and in 
the greatest danger of his life; but his amazing strength, and 
the good armor which he wore, freed him once more from this 
great peril, and he killed the three men, one after another. 
He then left the cottage, very sorrowful for the death of- his 
faithful foster-brother, and took his direction towards the 
place where he had appointed his men to assemble after their 
dispersion. It was now near night, and the place of meeting 
being a farm-house, he went boldly into it, where he found 
the mistress, an old true-hearted Scotswoman, sitting alone. 
Upon seeing a stranger enter, she asked him who and what 
he was. The King answered that he was a traveller, who was 
journeying through the country. 

“ All travellers,” answered the good woman, “ are welcome 
here, for the sake of one.” 

“And who is that one,” said the King, “for whose sake 
you make all travellers welcome?” 

“It is our rightful King, Robert the Bruce,” answered 
the mistress, “ who is the lawful lord of this country; 
and although he is now pursued and hunted after with 
hounds and horns, I hope to live to see him King over all 
Scotland.” 

“ Since you love him so well, dame,” said the King, “ know 
that you see him before you. I am Robert the Bruce.” 

“You!” said the good woman, in great surprise; “and 
wherefore are you thus alone? — where are all your men?” 

“I have none with me at this moment,” answered Bruce, 
“ and therefore I must travel alone.” 

“ But that shall not be,” said the brave old dame, “ for I 


62 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


have two stout sons, gallant and trusty men, who shall be 
your servants for life and death.” 

So she brought her two sons, and though she well knew the 
dangers to which she exposed them, she made them swear 
fidelity to the King; and they afterwards became high officers 
in his service. 

Now, the loyal old woman was getting everything ready 
for the King’s supper, when suddenly there was a great 
trampling of horses heard round the house. They thought it 
must be some of the English, cr John of Lorn’s men, and the 
good wife called upon her sons to fight to the last for King 
Robert. But shortly after, they heard the voice of the Good 
Lord James of Douglas, and of Edward Bruce, the King’s 
brother, who had come with a hundred and fifty horsemen to 
this farm-house, according to the instructions that the King 
had left with them at parting. 

Robert the Bruce was right joyful to meet his brother and 
his faithful friend Lord James; and had no sooner found 
himself once more at the head of such a considerable body of 
followers than, forgetting hunger and weariness, he began to 
inquire where the enemy who had pursued them so long had 
taken up their abode for the night; “ for,” said he, “ as they 
must suppose us totally scattered and fled, it is likely that they 
will think themselves quite secure, and disperse themselves 
into distant quarters, and keep careless watch.” 

“ That is very true,” answered James of Douglas, “ for I 
passed a village where there are two hundred of them quar- 
tered, who had placed no sentinels; and if you have a mind 
to make haste, we may surprise them this very night, and do 
them more mischief than they have been able to do us during 
all this day’s chase.” 

Then there was nothing but mount and ride; and as the 
Scots came by surprise on the body of English whom Douglas 
had mentioned, and rushed suddenly into the village where 
they were quartered, they easily dispersed and cut them to 


DOUGLAS AND RANDOLPH. 


63 


pieces; thus, as Douglas had said, doing their pursuers more 
injury than they themselves had received during the long and 
severe pursuit of the preceding day. 

The consequence of these successes of King Robert was 
that soldiers came to join him on all sides, and that he ob- 
tained several victories both over Sir Aymer de Valence, Lord 
Clifford, and other English commanders, until at length the 
English were afraid to venture into the open country as 
formerly, unless when they could assemble themselves in con- 
siderable bodies. They thought it safer to lie still in the 
towns and castles which they had garrisoned, and wait till 
the King of England should once more come to their assis- 
tance with a powerful army. 


CHAPTER IV. 

DOUGLAS AND RANDOLPH. 

When King Edward the First heard that Scotland was 
again in arms against him, he marched down to the Borders, 
with many threats of what he would do to avenge himself on 
Bruce and his party, whom he called rebels. But he was now 
old and feeble, and while he was making his preparations, he 
was taken very ill, and after lingering a long time, at length 
died on the 6th July, 1307, at a place in Cumberland called 
Burgh upon the Sands, in full sight of Scotland, and not 
three miles from its frontier. His hatred to that country was 
so great that his thoughts of revenge seemed to occupy his 
mind on his death-bed. He made his son promise never to 
make peace with Scotland until the nation was subdued. 

He also gave very strange directions concerning the disposal 
of his dead body. He ordered that it should be boiled in a 
caldron till the flesh parted from the bones, and that then 
the bones should be wrapped up in a bulks hide, and carried 
at the head of the English army as often as the Scots at- 


64 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


tempted to recover their freedom. He thought that he had 
inflicted such distresses on the Scots, and invaded and de- 
feated them so often, that his very dead hones would terrify 
them. His son, Edward the Second, did not choose to obey 
this strange order, but caused his father to he buried in West- 
minster Abbey, where his tomb is still to be seen, bearing for 
an inscription, here lies the hammer of the Scottish 
nation. And, indeed, it was true that during his life he did 
them as much injury as a hammer does to the substances 
which it dashes to pieces. 

Edward the Second was neither so brave nor so wise as his 
father: on the contrary, he was a weak prince, fond of idle 
amusements. It was lucky for Scotland that such was his 
disposition. He marched a little way into Scotland with the 
large army which Edward the First had collected, but retired 
without fighting, which gave great encouragement to Bruce’s 
party. 

Several of the Scottish nobility now took arms in different 
parts of the country, declared for King Robert, and fought 
against the English troops and garrisons. The most dis- 
tinguished of these was the Good Lord James of Douglas, 
whom we have often mentioned before. Some of his greatest 
exploits were at his own Castle of Douglas , 1 in which, being 
an important fortress, and strongly situated, the English had 
placed a large garrison. James of Douglas saw, with great 
displeasure, his castle filled with English soldiers, and stored 
with great quantities of corn, and cattle, and wine, and ale, 
and other supplies which they were preparing to enable them 
to assist the English army with provisions. So be resolved, 
if possible, to be revenged upon the captain of the garrison 
and his soldiers. 

For this purpose Douglas went in disguise to the house of 
one of his old servants, called Thomas Dickson, a strong, 
faithful, and bold man, and laid a scheme for taking the 

1 See map. 


DOUGLAS AND RANDOLPH. 


65 


castle. A day was approaching, called Palm Sunday. Upon 
this day it was common, in Roman Catholic times, that the 
people went to church in procession, with green boughs in 
their hands. Just as the English soldiers, who had marched 
down from the castle, got into church, one of Lord James’s 
followers raised the cry of Douglas, Douglas! which was the 
shout with which that family always began battle. Thomas 
Dickson, and some friends whom he had collected, instantly 
drew their swords, and killed the first Englishman they met. 
But as the signal had been given too soon, Dickson was borne 
down and slain. 

Douglas and his men presently after forced their way into 
the church. The English soldiers attempted to defend them- 
selves; hut, being taken by surprise and unprepared, they 
were, for the greater part, killed or made prisoners, and that 
so suddenly, and with so little noise, that their companions 
in the castle never heard of it. So that when Douglas and 
his men approached the castle gate, they found it open, and 
that part of the garrison which were left at home, busied 
cooking provisions for those that were at church. So Lord 
James got possession of his own castle without difficulty, and 
he and his men eat up all the good dinner which the English 
had made ready. But Douglas dared not stay there, lest the 
English should come in great force and besiege him; and 
therefore he resolved to destroy all the provisions which the 
English had stored up in the castle, and to render the place 
unavailing to them. 

It must be owned he executed this purpose in a very cruel 
manner, for he was much enraged at the death of Thomas 
Dickson. He caused all the barrels containing flour, meal, 
wheat, and malt, to be knocked in pieces, and their contents 
mixed on the floor; then he staved the great hogsheads of wine 
and ale, and mixed the liquor with the stores; and, last of all, 
he killed his prisoners. Then he flung dead horses into the 
well to destroy it — after which he set fire to the castle; and 

5 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


finally marched away, and took refnge with his followers in 
the hills and forests. He loved better, he said, “ to hear the 
lark sing than the mouse squeak.” That is, he loved better 
to keep in the open field with his men, than to shut himself 
and them up in castles. 

When Clifford, the English general, heard what had hap- 
pened, he came to Douglas Castle with a great body of men, 
and rebuilt all the defences which Lord James had destroyed, 
and cleared out the well, and put a good soldier, named 
Thirlwall, to command the garrison, and desired him to he 
on his guard, for he suspected that Lord James would again 
attack him. And, indeed, Douglas, who did not like to see 
the English in his father’s castle, was resolved to take the 
first opportunity of destroying this garrison, as he had done 
the former. For this purpose he again had recourse to strata- 
gem. He laid a part of his followers in ambush in the wood, 
and sent fourteen men, disguised like countrymen, driving 
cattle past the gates of the castle. 

As soon as Thirlwall saw this, he swore that he would 
plunder the Scots’ drovers of their cattle, and came out with 
a considerable part of his garrison, for that purpose. He had 
followed the cattle past the place where Douglas was lying 
concealed, when all of a sudden the Scotsmen threw off their 
carriers’ cloaks, and appearing in armor, cried the cry of 
Douglas, and, turning hack suddenly, ran to meet the pur- 
suers. Before Thirlwall could make any defence, he heard 
the same war-cry behind him, and saw Douglas coming up 
with those Scots who had been lying in ambush. Thirlwall 
himself was killed, fighting bravely in the middle of his 
enemies, and only a very few of his men found their way 
hack to the castle. 


THE PERILOUS CASTLE. 

When Lord James had thus slain two English commanders 
or governors of his castle, and was known to have made a vow 


DOUGLAS AND RANDOLPH. 


67 


that he would be revenged on any one who should dare to 
take possession of his father’s house, men became afraid; and 
the fortress was called, both in England and Scotland, the 
Perilous Castle of Douglas, because it proved so dangerous to 
any Englishman who was stationed there. 

Now, in those warlike times the ladies would not marry 
any man who was not very brave and valiant, so that a 
coward, let him be ever so rich or high-born, was held in 
universal contempt. And thus it became the fashion for the 
ladies to demand proofs of the courage of their lovers, and 
for those knights who desired to please them, to try some 
extraordinary deed of arms, fo show their bravery and deserve 
the ladies’ favor. 

At the time we speak of, there was a young lady in Eng- 
land, whom many knights and noblemen asked in marriage, 
because she was extremely wealthy and very beautiful. Once 
upon a holiday she made a great feast, to which she asked 
all her lovers, and numerous other gallant knights. After 
the feast she arose, and told them that she was much obliged 
to them for their good opinion of her, but as she desired to 
have for her husband a man of the most undoubted bravery, 
she had formed her resolution not to marry any one save one 
who should show his courage by defending the Perilous Castle 
of Douglas against the Scots for a year and a day. 

Now, this made some silence among the gentlemen present; 
for although the lady was rich and beautiful, yet there was 
great danger in placing themselves within the reach of the 
Good Lord James of Douglas. At last a brave young knight 
started up and said that for the love of that lady he was 
willing to keep the Perilous Castle for a year and a day, if 
the King pleased to give him leave. The King of England 
was satisfied and well pleased to get a brave man to hold a 
place so dangerous. 

Sir John Wilton was the name of this gallant knight. He 
kept the castle very safely for some time; but Douglas at last, 


68 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


by a stratagem/ induced him to venture out with a part of 
the garrison, and then set upon them and slew them. Wilton 
himself was killed, and a letter from the lady was found in 
his pocket. Douglas was sorry for his unhappy end, and did 
not put to death any of the prisoners as he had formerly done, 
but dismissed them in safety to the next English garrison. 


HOW RANDOLPH SCALED THE WALL. 


Other great lords, besides Douglas, were now exerting ’ 
themselves to attack and destroy the English. Amongst those ' 
was Sir Thomas Randolph, whose mother was a sister of King \ 
Robert. He had joined with the Bruce when he first took- 
up arms. Afterwards being made prisoner by the English,] 
Sir Thomas was obliged to adhere to Edward the First to save 
his life. He was in company with Aymer de Valence andi 
John of Lorn, when they forced the Bruce to disperse his 
little band; and he followed the pursuit so close that he 
made his uncle’s standard-bearer prisoner, and took his ban- 
ner. Afterwards, however, he was himself made prisoner by 
the Good Lord J ames Douglas, who brought him captive to i 
the King. 

Robert reproached his nephew for having deserted his) 
cause; and Randolph, who was very hot-tempered, answered ] 
insolently, and was sent by King Robert to prison. Shortly ! 
after, the uncle and nephew were made friends, and Sir, 
Thomas Randolph, created Earl of Murray by the King, was) 
ever afterwards one of Bruce’s best supporters. There was a 
sort of rivalry between Douglas and him, which should do the! 
boldest and most hazardous actions. I will just ment‘ 



or two circumstances, which will show what awful 


were to be encountered by these brave men, in order to free] 
Scotland from its enemies and invaders. 

1 This stratagem was, in its contrivance many sacks, and fill them with grass, as if 
and success, the same as his former one, corn for the county market-town of Lan- 
save that in place of cattle-driving, Lord ark, distant twelve miles from the Castle 
James made fourteen of his men take so of Douglas.— A uthor's Note. 


DOUGLAS AND RANDOLPH. 


69 


While Robert Bruce was gradually getting possession of the 
country, and driving out the English, Edinburgh , 1 the prin- 
cipal town of Scotland, remained, with its strong castle, in 
possession of the invaders. Sir Thomas Randolph was ex- 
tremely desirous to gain this important place; but the castle 
is situated on a very steep and lofty rock, so that it is difficult 
or almost impossible even to get up to the foot of the walls, 
much more to climb over them. 

So while Randolph was considering what was to be done, 
there came to him a Scottish gentleman named Francis, who 
had joined Bruce’s standard, and asked to speak with him in 
private. He then told Randolph that in his youth he had 
lived in the Castle of Edinburgh, and that his father had then 
been keeper of the fortress. It happened at that time that 
Francis was in love with a lady, who lived in a part of the 
town beneath the castle, which is called the Grassmarket. 
How, as he could not get out of the castle by day to see the 
lady, he had practised a way of clambering by night down the 
castle rock on the south side, and returning at his pleasure. 
When he came to the foot of the wall, he made use of a ladder 
to get over it, as it was not very high at that point, those who 
built it having trusted to the steepness of the crag; and, for 
the same reason, no watch was placed there. 

Francis had gone and come so frequently in this dangerous 
manner that, though it was now long ago, he told Randolph 
he knew the road so well that he would undertake to guide 
a small party of men by night to the bottom of the wall; and 
as they might bring ladders with them, there would be no 
difficulty in scaling it. The great risk was that of their 
being discovered by the watchmen while in the act of ascend- 
ing the cliff, in which case every man of them must have 
perished. 

Nevertheless, Randolph did not hesitate to attempt the 
adventure. He took with him only thirty men, and came one 

1 See map. 


70 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER 


dark night to the foot of the rock, which they began to ascend 
under the guidance of Francis, who went before them, upon 
his hands and feet, up one cliff, down another, and round 
another, where there was scarce room to support themselves. 
All the while, these thirty men were obliged to follow in a line, 
one after the other, by a path that was fitter for a cat than a 
man. The noise of a stone falling, or a word spoken from one 
to another, would have alarmed the watchmen. They were 
obliged, therefore, to move with the greatest precaution. 

When they were far up the crag, and near the foundation 
of the wall, they heard the guards going their rounds, to see 
that all was safe in and about the castle. Randolph and his 
party had nothing for it but to lie close and quiet, each man 
under the crag, as he happened to be placed, and trust that 
the guards would pass by without noticing them. And while 
they were waiting in breathless alarm, they got a new cause of 
fright. One of the soldiers of the castle, meaning to startle 
his comrades, suddenly threw a stone from the wall, and cried 
out, “ Aha, I see you well! ” The stone came thundering 
down over the heads of Randolph and his men, who naturally 
thought themselves discovered. If they had stirred, or made 
the slightest noise, they would have been entirely destroyed; 
for the soldiers above might have killed every man of them, 
merely by rolling down stones. But being courageous men, 
they remained quiet, and the English soldiers, who thought 
their comrade was merely playing them a trick (as, indeed, 
he had no other meaning in what he did and said), passed on, 
without farther examination. 

Then Randolph and his men got up, and came in haste to 
the foot of the wall, which was not above twice a man’s height 
in that place. They planted the ladders they had brought, 
and Francis mounted first to show them the way; Sir Andrew 
Grey, a brave knight, followed him, and Randolph himself 
was the third man who got over. Then the rest followed. 
When once they were within the walls, there was not so much 


DOUGLAS AND RANDOLPH. 


71 


to do, for the garrison were asleep and unarmed, excepting the 
watch, who were speedily destroyed. Thus was Edinburgh 
Castle taken. 


FARMER BINNOCK's STRATAGEM. 

It was not, however, only hy the exertions of great and 
powerful barons, like Randolph and Douglas, that the free- 
dom of Scotland was to he accomplished. The stout yeo- 
manry, and the hold peasantry of the land, who were as 
desirous to enjoy their cottages in honorable independence 
as the nobles were to reclaim their castles and estates from the 
English, contributed their full share in the efforts which were 
made to deliver their country from the invaders. I will give 
one instance among many. 

There was a strong castle near Linlithgow , 1 or Lithgow, as 
the word is more generally pronounced, where an English 
governor, with a powerful garrison, lay in readiness to support 
the English cause, and used to exercise much severity upon 
the Scots in the neighborhood. There lived at no great dis- 
tance from this stronghold a farmer, a hold and stout man, 
whose name was Binnock, or as it is now pronounced, Bin- 
ning. This man saw with great joy the progress which the 
Scots were making in recovering their country from the Eng- 
lish, and resolved to do something to help his countrymen, 
hy getting possession, if it were possible, of the Castle of 
Lithgow. 

But the place was very strong, situated hy the side of a lake, 
defended not only hy gates, which were usually kept shut 
against strangers, hut also hy a portcullis. A portcullis is a 
sort of door formed of cross-bars of iron, like a grate. It 
has not hinges like a door, hut is drawn up hy pulleys, and 
let down when any danger approaches. It may he let go in 
a moment, and then falls down into the door-way; and as it 
has great iron spikes at the bottom, it crushes all that it lights 

* Sec map. 


72 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER 


upon. Thus in case of a sudden alarm, a portcullis may be let 
suddenly fall to defend the entrance, when it is not possible 
to shut the gates. Binnock knew this very well, but he re- 
solved to be provided against this risk also when he attempted 
to surprise the castle. So he spoke with some bold, courageous 
countrymen, and engaged them in his enterprise, which he 
accomplished thus. 

Binnock had been accustomed to supply the garrison of 
Linlithgow with hay, and he had been ordered by the English 
governor to furnish some cart-loads, of which they were in 
want. He promised to bring it accordingly; but the night 
before he drove the hay to the castle, he stationed a party of 
his friends, as well armed as possible, near the entrance, where 
they could not be seen by the garrison, and gave them direc- 
tions that they should come to his assistance as soon as they 
should hear his signal, which was to be, — “ Call all, call all! ” 
Then he loaded a great wagon with hay. But in the wagon 
he placed eight strong men, well armed, lying flat on their 
breasts, and covered over with hay, so that they could not be 
seen. He himself walked carelessly beside the wagon; and he 
chose the stoutest and bravest of his servants to be the driver, 
who carried at his belt a strong ax or hatchet. 

In this way Binnock approached the castle early in the 
morning; and the watchman, who saw only two men, Binnock 
being one of them, with a cart of hay, which they expected, 
opened the gates, and raised up the portcullis, to permit them 
to enter the castle. But as soon as the cart had got under the 
gateway, Binnock made a sign to his servant, who, with his 
ax, suddenly cut asunder the saom, that is, the yoke which 
fastens the horses to the cart, and the horses finding them- 
selves free, naturally started forward, the cart remaining 
behind under the arch of the gate. At the same moment, , 
Binnock cried as loud as he could, “ Call all, call all! ” and 
drawing the sword, which he had under his coat, he killed ? 
the porter. The armed men then jumped up from under the 


DOUGLAS AND RANDOLPH. 


73 


hay where they lay concealed, and rushed on the English 
guard. 

The Englishmen tried to shut the gates, hut they could not, 
because the cart of hay remained in the gateway, and pre- 
vented the folding-doors from being closed. The portcullis 
was also let fall, but the grating was caught on the cart, and 
so could not drop to the ground. The men who were in am- 
bush near the gate, hearing the signal agreed on, ran to 
assist those who had leaped out from the hay; the castle 
was taken, and all the Englishmen killed or made prisoners. 
King Robert rewarded Binnock by bestowing on him an 
estate, which his posterity long afterwards enjoyed. 

HOW DOUGLAS CAPTURED ROXBURGH. 

The great and important Castle of Roxburgh 1 was also 
taken from the English. Roxburgh was then a very large 
castle, situated near where two fine rivers, the Tweed and the 
Teviot, join each other. Being within five or six miles of 
England, the English were extremely desirous of holding it, 
and the Scots equally eager to obtain possession of it. I will 
tell how it was taken. 

It was upon the night of what is called Shrovetide, a 
holiday which Roman Catholics paid great respect to, and 
celebrated with much gayety and feasting. Most of the 
garrison of Roxburgh Castle were drinking and merrymaking, 
but still they had set watches on the battlements of the castle, 
in case of any sudden attack; for, as Douglas was known to be 
in the neighborhood, they thought themselves obliged to keep 
a very strict guard. 

An Englishwoman, the wife of one of the officers, was 
sitting on the battlements with her child in her arms; and 
looking out on the fields below, she saw some black objects, 
like a herd of cattle, straggling near the foot of the wall, and 
approaching the ditch or moat of the castle. She pointed 

1 See map. 


74 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


them out to the sentinel, and asked him what they were. — 
“Pooh, pooh,” said the soldier, “it is farmer such a one’s 
cattle” (naming a man whose farm lay near to the castle); 
“ the good man is keeping a jolly Shrovetide, and has forgot 
to shut up his bullocks in their yard; hut if the Douglas come 
across them before morning, he is likely to have cause to 
regret his negligence.” 

Now, these creeping objects which they saw from the castle 
wall were no real cattle, but Douglas himself and his soldiers, 
who had put black cloaks above their armor, and were creep- 
ing about on hands and feet, in order, without being observed, 
to get so near to the foot of the castle wall as to be able to 
set ladders to it. The poor woman, who knew nothing of 
this, sat quietly on the wall, and began to sing to her child. 
The name of Douglas had become so terrible to the English 
that the women used to frighten their children with it, and 
say to them, when they behaved ill, that they would make the 
Black Douglas take them. And this soldier’s wife was sing- 
ing to her child, 

“ Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye, 

Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye, 

The Black Douglas shall not get ye.” 

“You are not so sure of that,” said a voice close beside 
her. She felt at the same time a heavy hand, with an iron 
glove, laid on her shoulder, and when she looked round, she 
saw the very Black Douglas she had been singing about, 
standing close beside her, a tall, swarthy, strong man. At 
the same time, another Scotsman was seen ascending the 
walls, near to the sentinel. The soldier gave the alarm, and 
rushed with his lance at the Scotsman, whose name was Simon 
Ledehouse; but Simon warded off the stroke, and closing with 
the sentinel, struck him a deadly blow with his dagger. The 
rest of the Scots followed up to assist Douglas and Ledehouse, 
and the castle was taken. Many of the soldiers were put to 


DOUGLAS AND RANDOLPH. 


75 


death, but Douglas protected the woman and the child. I 
dare say she made no more songs about the Black Douglas. 

THE PASS OF BEN CRUACHEN. 

While Douglas, Randolph, and other true-hearted patriots 
were thus taking castles and strongholds from the English, 
King Robert, who had now a considerable army under his 
command, marched through the country, beating and dis- 
persing such bodies of English as he met on his way. He 
went to the north country, where he conquered the great and 
powerful family of Comyn, who held strong ill-will against 
him for having slain their relation, the Red Comyn. They 
had joined the English with all their forces; but now, as the 
Scots began to get the upper hand, they were very much 
distressed. Bruce caused more than thirty of them to be 
beheaded in one day, and the place where they are buried is 
called “ the Grave of the Headless Comyns.” 

Neither did Bruce forget or forgive John McDougal of 
Lorn, who defeated him at Dairy, and had very nearly made 
him prisoner, by the hands of his vassals, the McAndrossers, 
and afterwards pursued him with a bloodhound. When John 
of Lorn heard that Bruce was marching against him, he hoped 
to defend himself by taking possession of a very strong pass 
on the side of one of the largest mountains in Scotland, Ben 
Cruachen . 1 The ground was very strait, having lofty rocks 
on the one hand, and on the other deep precipices, sinking 
down on a great lake called Lochawe ; 1 so that John of Lorn 
thought himself perfectly secure, as he could not be attacked 
except in front, and by a very difficult path. 

But King Robert, when he saw how his enemies were 
posted, sent a party of light-armed archers, under command 
of Douglas, with directions to go, by a distant and difficult 
road, around the northern side of the hill, and thus to attack 
the men of Lorn in the rear as well as in front; that is, behind 

1 See map. • 


76 


TALES OF A GKANDFATHEK. 


as well as before. He had signals made when Douglas arrived 
at the place appointed. The King then advanced upon the 
Lorn men in front, when they raised a shout of defiance, and 
began to shoot arrows and roll stones down the path, with 
great' confidence in the security of their own position. But 
when they were attacked by the Douglas and his archers in 
the rear, the soldiers of McDougal lost courage and fled. 
Many were slain among the rocks and precipices, and many 
were drowned in the lake, and the great river which runs out 
of it. J ohn of Lorn escaped only by means of a boat, which 
he had in readiness upon the Lake. Thus King Robert had 
full revenge upon him, and deprived him of a great part of 
his territory. 

The English now possessed scarcely any place of importance 
in Scotland, excepting Stirling, which was besieged, or rather 
blockaded, by Edward Bruce, the King’s brother. To block- 
ade a town or castle is to quarter an army around it so as 
to prevent those within from getting provisions. This was 
done by the Scots before Stirling, till Sir Philip Mowbray, 
who commanded the castle, finding that he was likely to be 
reduced to extremity for want of provisions, made an agree- 
ment with Edward Bruce that he would surrender the place, 
provided he were not relieved by the King of England before 
midsummer. Edward agreed to these terms, and allowed 
Mowbray to go to London, to tell King Edward of the con- 
ditions he had made. 

But when King Robert heard what his brother had done, 
he thought it was too great a risk, since it obliged him to 
venture a battle with the full strength of Edward II., who 
had under him England, Ireland, Wales, and great part of 
France, and could within the time allowed assemble a much 
more powerful army than the Scots could, even if all Scotland 
were fully under the King’s authority. Edward answered 
his brother with his naturally audacious spirit, “ Let King 
Edward bring every man he has, we will fight them, were they 


BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 


77 


more.” The King admired his courage, though it was 
mingled with rashness. — •“ Since it is so, brother,” he said, 
“ we will manfully abide battle, and assemble all who love us, 
and value the freedom of Scotland, to come with all the men 
they have, and help us to oppose King Edward, should he 
come with his army to rescue Stirling.” 


CHAPTER V. 

BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 

King Edward II., as we have already said, was not a 
wise and brave man like his father, but a foolish prince, who 
thought more of pleasure than of governing his kingdom. 
His father, Edward I., would have entered Scotland at the 
head of a large army before Bruce had time to reconquer so 
much of the country. But we have seen that, very fortu- 
nately for the Scots, that wise and skilful, though ambitious 
King, died when he was on the point of marching into Scot- 
land. His son Edward afterwards neglected the Scottish war, 
and thus lost the opportunity of defeating Bruce when his 
force was small. 

But now when Sir Philip Mowbray, the governor of Stir- 
ling, came to London to tell the King that Stirling, the last 
Scottish town of importance which remained in possession of 
the English, was to be surrendered if it were not relieved 
by force of arms before midsummer, all the English nobles 
called out it would be a sin and shame to permit the fair con- 
quest which Edward I. had made, to be forfeited to the Scots 
for want of fighting. It was, therefore, resolved, that the 
King should go himself to Scotland, with as great forces as he 
could possibly muster. 

King Edward II., therefore, assembled one of the greatest 
armies which a king of England ever commanded. There 


78 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


were troops brought from all his dominions. Many brave 
soldiers from the provinces which the King of England pos- 
sessed in France, — many Irish, many Welsh, — and all the 
great English nobles and barons, with their followers, were 
assembled in one great army. The number was not less than 
one hundred thousand men. 

King Robert the Bruce summoned all his nobles and barons 
to join him, when he heard of the great preparation which the 
King of England was making. They were not so numerous 
as the English by many thousand men. His whole army did 
not very much exceed thirty thousand, and they were much 
worse armed than the wealthy Englishmen. But, then, 
Robert, who was at their head, was one of the most expert 
generals of the time. And the officers he had under him 
were his brother Edward, his nephew Randolph, his faithful 
follower the Douglas, and other brave and experienced 
leaders, who commanded the same men that had been accus- 
tomed to fight and gain victories under every disadvantage of 
situation and numbers. 

The King, on his part, studied how he might supply, by 
skill and stratagem, what he wanted in numbers and strength. 
He knew the superiority of the English, both in their heavy- 
armed cavalry, which were much better mounted and armed 
than that of the Scots, and in their archers, who were better 
trained than any others in the world. Both these advantages 
he resolved to provide against. With this purpose, he led his 
army down into a plain near Stirling, called the Park, near 
which, and beneath it, the English army must pass through a 
boggy country, broken with water-courses, while the Scots 
occupied hard dry ground. 

He then caused all the ground upon the front of his line 
of battle, where cavalry were likely to act, to be dug full of 
holes, about as deep as a man’s knee. They were filled with 
light brushwood, and the turf was laid on the top, so that it 
appeared a plain field, while in reality it was all full of these 


BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 


79 




pits as a honeycomb is of holes. He also, it is said, caused 
steel spikes, called calthrops, to be scattered up and down in 
the plain, where the English cavalry were most likely to ad- 
vance, trusting in that manner to lame and destroy their 
horses. 

When the Scottish army was drawn up, the line stretched 
north and south. On the south it terminated at the banks 
of the brook called Bannockburn , 1 which are so rocky that 
no troops could attack them there. On the left, the Scottish 
line extended near to the town of Stirling. Bruce reviewed 
his troops very carefully. All the useless servants, drivers of 
carts, and such like, of whom there were very many, he 
ordered to go behind a height, afterwards, in memory of the 
event, called the Gillies* Hill, that is, Servants* Hill. 

He then spoke to the soldiers, and expressed his determina- 
tion to gain the victory, or to lose his life on the field of battle. 
He desired that all those who did not propose to fight to the 
last should leave the field before the battle began, and that 
none should remain except those who were determined to take 
the issue of victory or death, as God should send it. 

When the main body of his army was thus placed in order, 
the King posted Randolph, with a body of horse, near to the 
church of St. Ninian*s, commanding him to use the utmost 
diligence to prevent any succors from being thrown into Stir- 
ling Castle. He then despatched James of Douglas, and Sir 
Robert Keith, the Marshal of the Scottish army, in order that 
they might survey, as nearly as they could, the English force, 
which was now approaching from Falkirk. 

They returned with information that the approach of that 
vast host was one of the most beautiful and terrible sights 
which could be seen, — that the whole country seemed covered 
with men-at-arms on horse and foot, — that the number of 
standards, banners, and pennons (all flags of different kinds), 
made so gallant a show that the bravest and most numerous 

i See map. 


80 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


host in Christendom might he alarmed to see King Edward 
moving against them. 

RANDOLPH REDEEMS HIS FAULT. 

It was upon the 23d of June, 1314, the King of Scotland 
heard the news, that the English were approaching Stirling. 
He drew out his army, therefore, in the order which he had 
before resolved on. After a short time, Bruce, who was look- 
ing out anxiously for the enemy, saw a body of English 
cavalry trying to get into Stirling from the eastward. This 
was the Lord Clifford, who, with a chosen body of eight hun- 
dred horse, had been detached to relieve the castle. 

“ See, Randolph,” said the King to his nephew, “ there is 
a rose fallen from your chaplet.” By this he meant that 
Randolph had lost some honor by suffering the enemy to pass 
where he had been stationed to hinder them. Randolph made 
no reply, but rushed against Clifford with little more than 
half his number. The Scots were on foot. The English 
turned to charge them with their lances, and Randolph drew 
up his men in close order to receive the onset. He seemed 
to be in so much danger that Douglas asked leave to go and 
assist him. The King refused him permission. 

“ Let Randolph,” he said, “ redeem his own fault; I cannot 
break the' order of battle for his sake.” Still the danger 
appeared greater, and the English horse seemed entirely to 
encompass the small handful of Scottish infantry. “ So 
please you,” said Douglas to the King, “my heart will not 
suffer me to stand idle and see Randolph perish — I must go 
to his assistance.” He rode off accordingly; but long before 
they had reached the place of combat, they saw the English 
horses galloping off, many with empty saddles. 

“Halt!” said Douglas to bis men, “Randolph has gained 
the day; since we were not soon enough to help him in the 
battle, do not let us lessen his glory by approaching the field.” 
How, that was nobly done; especially as Douglas and Ran- 


BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 


81 


dolph were always contending which should rise highest in 
the good opinion of the King and the nation. 

A TERRIBLE BLOW. 

The van of the English army now came in sight, and a 
number of their bravest knights drew near to see what the 
Scots were doing. They saw King Robert dressed in his 
armor, and distinguished by a gold crown, which he wore 
over his helmet. He was not mounted on his great war-horse, 
because he did not expect to fight that evenirg. But he rode 
on a little pony up and down the ranks of his army, putting 
his men in order, and carried in his hand a sort of battle-ax 
made of steel. When the King saw the English horsemen 
draw near, he advanced a little before his own men that he 
might look at them more nearly. 

There was a knight among the English, called Sir Henry 
de Bohun, who thought this would he a good opportunity to 
gain great fame to himself, and put an end to the war, by 
killing King Robert. The King being poorly mounted, and 
having no lance, Bohun galloped on him suddenly and 
furiously, thinking, with his long spear, and his tall, powerful 
horse, e&ily to hear him down to the ground. King Robert 
saw him, and permitted him to come very near, then suddenly 
turned his pony a little to one side, so that Sir Henry missed 
him with the lance-point, and was in the act of being carried 
past him by the career of his horse. But as he passed, King 
Robert rose up in his stirrups, and struck Sir Henry on the 
head with his battle-ax so terrible a blow that it broke to 
pieces his iron helmet as if it had been a nut-shell, and hurled 
him from his saddle. He was dead before he reached the 
ground. 

This gallant action was blamed by the Scottish leaders, who 
thought Bruce ought not to have exposed himself to so much 
danger when the safety of the whole army depended on him. 
The King only kept looking at his weapon, which was injured 


6 


82 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


by the force of the blow, and said, "I have broken my good 
battle-ax/ 5 

KING EDWARD^ ARMY DESTROYED. 

The next morning, 24th of June, at break of day, the battle 
began in terrible earnest. The English as they advanced saw 
the Scots getting into line. The Abbot of Inchaffray walked 
through their ranks barefooted, and exhorted them to fight 
for their freedom. They kneeled down as he passed, and 
prayed to Heaven for victory. King Edward, who saw this, 
called out, “ They kneel down — they are asking forgiveness." 
“ Yes," said a celebrated English baron, called Ingelram de 
TJmphraville, “ but they ask it from God, not from us — these 
men will conquer, or die upon the field." 

The English King ordered his men to begin the battle. 
The archers then bent their bows, and began to shoot so 
closely together that the arrows fell like flakes of snow on a 
Christmas day. They killed many of the Scots, and might, 
as at Falkirk and other places, have decided the victory; but 
Bruce was prepared for them. He had in readiness a body of 
men-at-arms, well mounted, who rode at full gallop among the 
archers, and as they had no weapons save their b^ws and 
arrows, which they could not use when they were attacked 
hand to hand, they were cut down in great numbers by the 
Scottish horsemen and thrown into total confusion. 

The fine English cavalry then advanced to support their 
archers, and to attack the Scottish line. But coming over 
the ground, which was dug full of pits, the horses fell into 
these holes, and the riders lay tumbling about, without any 
means of defence, and unable to rise, from the weight of their 
armor. The Englishmen began to fall into general disorder; 
and the Scottish King, bringing up more of his forces, at- 
tacked and pressed them still more closely. 

On a sudden, while the battle was obstinately maintained 
on both sides, an event happened which decided the victory. 


BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 


83 


The attendants on the Scottish camp had, as I told yon, been 
sent behind the army to a place afterwards called the Gillies* 
Hill. But when they saw that their masters were likely to 
gain the day, they rushed from their place of concealment 
with such weapons as they could get, that they might have 
their share in the victory and in the spoil. 

The English, seeing them come suddenly over the hill, 
mistook this disorderly rabble for another army coming to 
help the Scots, and, losing all heart, began to shift every man 
for himself. King Edward left the field as fast as he could 
ride. A valiant knight, Sir Giles de Argentine, much re- 
nowned in the wars of Palestine, attended the King till he got 
him out of the press of the combat. But he would retreat 
no farther. “ It is not my custom,” he said, “ to fly.” With 
that he took leave of the King, set spurs to his horse, and call- 
ing out his war-cry of Argentine! Argentine! he rushed into 
the thickest of the Scottish ranks, and was killed. 

Edward first fled to Stirling Castle, and entreated admit- 
tance; but Sir Philip Mowbray, the governor, reminded the 
fugitive sovereign that he was obliged to surrender the castle 
next day, so Edward was fain to fly through the Torwood, 
closely pursued by Douglas with a body of cavalry. 

An odd circumstance happened during the chase, which 
showed how loosely some of the Scottish barons of that day 
held their political opinions. As Douglas was riding furiously 
after Edward, he met a Scottish knight, Sir Laurence Aber- 
nethy, with twenty horse. Sir Laurence had hitherto sup- 
ported the English, and was bringing this band of followers 
to serve King Edward’s army. But learning from Douglas 
that the English King was entirely defeated, he changed sides 
on the spot, and was easily prevailed upon to join Douglas in 
pursuing the unfortunate Edward, with the very followers 
whom he had been leading to join his standard. 

Douglas and Abernethy continued the chase, not giving 
King Edward time to alight from horseback even for an 


84 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


instant, and followed him as far as Dunbar , 1 where the Eng- 
lish had still a friend, in the governor, Patrick, Earl of March. 
The Earl received Edward in his forlorn condition, and 
furnished him with a fishing skiff, or small ship, in which 
he escaped to England, having entirely lost his fine army, and 
a great number of his bravest nobles. 

The English never before or afterwards, whether in France 
or Scotland, lost so dreadful a battle as that of Bannockburn, 
nor did the Scots ever gain one of the same importance. 
Many of the best and bravest of the English nobility and 
gentry lay dead on the field. A great many more were made 
prisoners; and the whole of King Edward’s immense army 
was dispersed or destroyed. 

The English, after this great defeat, were no longer in a 
condition to support their claim to be masters of Scotland, 
or to continue, as they had done for nearly twenty years, to 
send armies into that country to overcome it. On the con- 
trary, they became for a time scarce able to defend their own 
frontiers against King Robert and his soldiers. 

Thus did Robert Bruce arise from the condition of an exile, 
hunted with bloodhounds like a stag or beast of prey, to the 
rank of an independent sovereign, universally acknowledged 
to be one of the wisest and bravest kings who then lived. 
The nation of Scotland was also raised once more from the 
situation of a distressed and conquered province to that of a 
free and independent state, governed by its own laws, and 
subject to its own princes. 

And although the country was, after the Bruce’s death, 
often subjected to great loss and distress, both by the hostility 
of the English, and by the unhappy civil wars among the 
Scots themselves, yet they never afterwards lost the freedom 
for which Wallace had laid down his life, and which King 
Robert had recovered, not less by his wisdom than by his 
weapons. And therefore most just it is that while the coun- 

1 See map. 


DEATH OF BRUCE AND THE GOOD LORD JAMES. 85 


try of Scotland retains any recollection of its history, the 
memory of those brave warriors and faithful patriots should 
be remembered with honor and gratitude. 


CHAPTER VI. 

DEATH OF BRUCE AND THE GOOD LORD JAMES. 

Robert Bruce continued to reign gloriously for several 
years, and was so constantly victorious over the English that 
the Scots seemed during his government to have acquired a 
complete superiority over their neighbors. But we must 
remember that Edward II., who then reigned in England, 
was a foolish prince, and listened to bad counsels; so that it 
is no wonder he was beaten by so wise and experienced a gen- 
eral as Robert Bruce, who had fought his way to the crown 
through so many disasters, and acquired in consequence so 
much renown, that he was generally accounted one of the 
best soldiers and wisest sovereigns of his time. 

In the last year of Robert the Bruce’s reign he became 
extremely sickly and infirm, chiefly owing to a disorder called 
the leprosy, which he had caught during the hardships and 
misfortunes of his youth, when he was so frequently obliged 
to hide himself in woods and morasses, without a roof to 
shelter him. He lived at a castle called Cardross, on the 
beautiful banks of the river Clyde, near to where it joins 
the sea; and his chief amusement was to go upon the river, 
and down to the sea in a ship, which he kept for his pleasure. 
He was no longer able to sit upon his war-horse, or to lead 
his army to the field. 

While Bruce yas in this feeble state, Edward II., King of 
England, died, and was succeeded by his son Edward III. 
He turned out afterwards to be one of the wisest and bravest 
kings whom England ever had; but when he first mounted the 


86 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


throne he was very young, and under the entire management 
of his mother, who governed by means of a wicked favorite 3 
called Mortimer. 

ROUGH-FOOTED SCOTS. 


The war between the English and the Scots still lasting 
at the time, Bruce sent his two great commanders, the Good 
Lord James Douglas and Thomas Randolph, Earl of Murray, 
to lay waste the counties of Northumberland and Durham, 
and distress the English as much as they could. 

Their soldiers were about twenty thousand in number, all 
lightly armed, and mounted on horses that were but small in 
height, but excessively active. The men themselves carried 
no provision, except a bag of oatmeal; and each had at his 
saddle a small plate of iron called a girdle, on which, when 
they pleased, they could bake the oatmeal into cakes. They 
killed the cattle of the English, as they travelled through the 
country, roasted the flesh on wooden spits, or boiled it in the 
skins of the animals themselves, putting in a little water 
with the beef, to prevent the fire from burning the hide to 
pieces. 

This was rough cookery. They made their shoes, or rather 
sandals, in as coarse a way; cutting them out of the raw hides 
of the cattle, and fitting them to their ankles, like what are 
now called short gaiters. As this sort of buskin had the 
hairy side of the hide outermost, the English called those who 
wore them rough-footed Scots, and sometimes, from the color 
of the hide, red-shanks. 

As such forces needed to carry nothing with them, either 
for provisions or ammunition, the Scots moved with amazing 
speed, from mountain to mountain, and from glen to glen, 
pillaging and destroying the country wherever they came. 
In the meanwhile the young King of England pursued them 
with a much larger army; but as it was encumbered by the 
necessity of carrying provisions in great quantities, and by the 








DEATH OF BRUCE AND THE GOOD LORD JAMES. 87 


slow motions of men in heavy armor, they could not come up 
with the Scots, although they saw every day the smoke of the 
houses and villages which they were burning. The King of 
England was extremely angry; for, though only a boy of six- 
teen years old, he longed to fight the Scots, and to chastise 
them for the mischief they were doing to his country; and at 
length he grew so impatient that he offered a large reward to 
any one who would show him where the Scottish army were. 

At length, after the English host had suffered severe hard- 
ships, from want of provisions, and fatiguing journeys 
through fords, and swamps, and morasses, a gentleman named 
Rokeby came into the camp, and claimed the reward which 
the King had offered. He told the King that he had been 
made prisoner by the Scots, and that they had said they 
should be as glad to meet the English King as he to see them. 
Accordingly, Rokeby guided the English army to the place 
where the Scots lay encamped. 

But the English King was no nearer to the battle which he 
desired; for Douglas and Randolph, knowing the force and 
numbers of the English army, had taken up their camp on a 
steep hill, at the bottom of which ran a deep river, called the 
Wear, having a channel filled with large stones, so that there 
was no possibility for the English to attack the Scots without 
crossing the water, and then climbing up the steep hill in the 
very face of their enemy; a risk which was too great to be 
attempted. 

Then the King sent a message of defiance to the Scottish 
generals, inviting them either to draw back their forces, and 
allow him freedom to cross the river, and time to place his 
army in order of battle on the other side, that they might 
fight fairly, or offering, if they liked it better, to permit them 
to cross over to his side without opposition, that they might 
join battle on a fair field. Randolph and Douglas did noth- 
ing but laugh at this message. They said that when they 
fought, it should be at their own pleasure, and not because 


88 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


the King of England chose to ask for a battle. They re- 
minded him, insultingly, how they had been in his country 
for many days, burning, taking spoil, and doing what they 
thought fit. If the King was displeased with this, they said, 
he must find his way across the river to fight them, the best 
way he could. 

The English King, determined not to quit sight of the 
Scots, encamped on the opposite side of the river to watch 
their motions, thinking that want of provisions would oblige 
them to quit their strong position on the mountains. But the 
Scots once more showed Edward their dexterity in marching, 
by leaving their encampment, and taking up another post, 
even stronger and more difficult to approach than the first 
which they had occupied. King Edward followed, and again 
encamped opposite to his dexterous and troublesome enemies, 
desirous to bring them to a battle, when he might hope to gain 
an easy victory, having more than double the number of the 
Scottish army, all troops of the very best quality. 

A LESSON IN THE ART OF WAR. 

While the armies lay thus opposed to each other, Douglas 
resolved to give the young King of England a lesson in the art 
of war. At the dead of night he left the Scottish camp with 
a small body of chosen horse, not above two hundred, well 
armed. He crossed the river in deep silence, and came to the 
English camp, which was but carelessly guarded. Seeing 
this, Douglas rode past the English sentinels as if he had been 
an officer of the English army, saying , — “ Ha, St. George! 
you keep bad watch here.” — In those days the English used 
to swear by St. George, as the Scots did by St. Andrew. Pres- 
ently after, Douglas heard an English soldier, who lay 
stretched by the fire, say to his comrade, — “ I cannot tell what 
is to happen to us in this place; but, for my part, I have a 
great fear of the Black Douglas playing us some trick.” 

“ You shall have cause to say so,” said Douglas to himself. 


DEATH OF BRUCE AND THE GOOD LORD JAMES. 89 


When he had thus got into the midst of the English camp 
without being discovered, he drew his sword, and cut asunder 
the ropes of a tent, calling out his usual war-cry, — “ Douglas, 
Douglas! English thieves, you are all dead men.” His fol- 
lowers immediately began to cut down and overturn the tents, 
cutting and stabbing the English soldiers as they endeavored 
to get to arms. 

Douglas forced his way to the pavilion of the King himself, 
and very nearly carried that young prince prisoner out of 
the middle of his great army. Edward’s chaplain, however, 
and many of his household, stood to arms bravely in his de- 
fence, while the young King escaped by creeping away be- 
neath the canvas of his tent. The chaplain and several of the 
King’s officers were slain; but the whole camp was now 
alarmed and in arms, so that Douglas was obliged to retreat, 
which he did by bursting through the English at the side of 
the camp opposite to that by which he had entered. Being 
separated from his men in the confusion, he was in great 
danger of being slain by an Englishman who encountered him 
with a huge club. This man he killed, but with considerable 
difficulty; and then blowing his horn to collect his soldiers, 
who soon gathered around him, he returned to the Scottish 
camp, having sustained very little loss. 

THE FISHERMAN AND THE FOX. 

Edward, much mortified at the insult which he had re- 
ceived, became still more desirous of chastising those auda- 
cious adversaries; and one of them at least was not unwilling 
to afford him an opportunity of revenge. This was Thomas 
Randolph, Earl of Murray. He asked Douglas when he 
returned to the Scottish camp what he had done. — “ We have 
drawn some blood.” — “ Ah,” said the Earl, “ had we gone all 
together to the night attack, we should have discomfited 
them.” — “It might well have been so,” said Douglas, “but 
the risk would have been too great.”— “ Then will we fight 


90 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


them in open battle,” said Randolph, " for if we remain here, 
we shall in time be famished for want of provisions.” — " Not 
so,” replied Douglas; ".we will' deal with this great army of 
the English as the fox did with the fisherman in the fable.” — 
"And how was that?” said the Earl of Murray. Hereupon 
the Douglas told him this story: 

"A fisherman,” he said, "had made a hut by a riverside 
that he might follow his occupation of fishing. Now, one 
night he had gone out to look after his nets, leaving a small 
fire in his hut; and when he came hack, behold! there was a 
fox in the cabin, taking the liberty to eat one of the finest 
salmon he had taken. ‘ Ho, Mr. Robber! ’ said the fisherman, 
drawing his sword, and standing in the door-way to prevent 
the fox’s escape, ‘ you shall presently die the death.’ The 
poor fox looked for some hole to get out at, but saw none; 
whereupon he pulled down with his teeth a mantle, which was 
lying on the bed, and dragged it across the fire. The fisher- 
man ran to snatch his mantle from the fire— the fox flew 
out at the door with the salmon; — and so,” said Douglas, 
" shall we escape the great English army by subtilty, and 
without risking battle with so large a force.” 

Randolph agreed to act by Douglas’s counsel, and the Scot- 
tish army kindled great fires through their encampment, and 
made a noise and shouting, and blowing of horns, as if they 
meant to remain all night there, as before. But in the mean- 
time Douglas had caused a road to be made through two 
miles of a great morass which lay in their rear. This was 
done by cutting down to the bottom of the bog, and filling 
the trench with fagots of wood. Without this contrivance 
it would have been impossible that the army could have 
crossed; and through this passage, which the English never 
suspected, Douglas and Randolph, and all their men, moved 
at the dead of night. 

They did not leave so much as an errand-boy behind, and 
so bent their march towards Scotland, leaving the English 


DEATH OF BRUCE AND THE GOOD LORD JAMES. 91 


disappointed and affronted. Great was their wonder in the 
morning, when they saw the Scottish camp empty, and found 
no living men in it, hut two or three English prisoners tied 
to trees, whom they had left with an insulting message to the 
King of England, saying if he were displeased with what they 
had done, he might come and revenge himself in Scotland. 

The place where the Scots fixed this famous encampment 
was in the forest of Weardale, in Durham; and the road which 
they cut for the purpose of their retreat is still called the 
Shorn Moss. 

After this a peace was concluded with Robert Bruce on 
terms highly honorable to Scotland; for the English King 
renounced all claims to the sovereignty of the country, and, 
moreover, gave his sister, a princess called Joanna, to be the 
wife of Robert Bruce’s son, called David. This treaty was 
very advantageous for the Scots. It was called the treaty of 
Northampton, because it was concluded at that town in the 
year 1328. 

bruce’s dying request. 

Good King Robert did not long survive this joyful event. 
He was not aged more than fifty-four years, but, as I said be- 
fore, his bad health was caused by the hardships which he 
sustained during his youth, and at length he became very ill. 
Finding that he could not recover, he assembled around his 
bedside the nobles and counsellors in whom he most trusted. 
He told them that now, being on his death-bed, he repented 
all his misdeeds, and particularly, that he had, in his passion, 
killed Comyn with his own hand, in the church and before the 
altar. He said that if he had lived, he had intended to go to 
Jerusalem to make war upon the Saracens who held the Holy 
Land, as some expiation for the evil deeds he had done. But 
since he was about to die, he requested of his dearest friend 
and bravest warrior, and that was the Good Lord James 
Douglas, that he should carry his heart to the Holy Land. 


92 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


To make you understand the meaning of this request, I 
must tell you that at this time a people called Saracens, who 
believed in the false prophet Mahomet, had obtained by con- 
quest possession of Jerusalem and the other cities and places 
which are mentioned in the Holy Scripture. The Christians 
of Europe, who went thither as pilgrims to worship at these 
places, where so many miracles had been wrought, were in- 
sulted by these heathen Saracens. 

Hence many armies of Christians went from their own 
countries out of every kingdom of Europe to fight against 
these Saracens; and believed that they were doing a great 
service to religion, and that what sins they had committed 
would be pardoned by God Almighty, because they had taken 
a part in this which they called a holy warfare. You may 
remember that Bruce thought of going upon this expedition 
when he was in despair of recovering the crown of Scotland; 
and now he desired his heart to be carried to Jerusalem after 
his death, and requested Lord James of Douglas to take the 
charge of it. Douglas wept bitterly as he accepted this office, 
— the last mark of the Bruce’s confidence and friendship. 

The King soon afterwards expired; and his heart was taken 
out from his body and embalmed, that is, prepared with 
spices and perfumes, that it might remain a long time fresh 
and uncorrupted. Then the Douglas caused a case of silver 
to be made, into which he put the Bruce’s heart, and wore it 
around his neck by a string of silk and gold. And he set 
forward for the Holy Land with a gallant train of the 
bravest men in Scotland, who, to show their valor and sorrow 
for their brave King Robert, resolved to attend his heart to 
the city of Jerusalem. It had been much better for Scotland 
if the Douglas and his companions had stayed at home to de- 
fend their own country, which was shortly afterwards in great 
want of their assistance. 

Neither did Douglas ever get to the end of his journey. 
In going to Palestine he landed in Spain, where the Saracen 


DEATH OF BRUCE AND THE GOOD LORD JAMES. 93 


King, or Sultan of Grenada, called Osmyn, was invading the 
realms of Alphonso, the Spanish King of Castile. King 
Alphonso received Douglas with great honor and distinction, 
and people came from all parts to see the great soldier, whose 
fame was well known through every part of the Christian 
world. King Alphonso easily persuaded the Scottish Earl 
that he would do good service to the Christian cause, by 
assisting him to drive back the Saracens of Grenada, before 
proceeding on his voyage to Jerusalem. 

Lord Douglas and his followers went accordingly to a great 
battle against Osmyn, and had little difficulty in defeating 
the Saracens who were opposed to them. But being ignorant 
of the mode of fighting among the cavalry of the East, the 
Scots pursued the chase too far, and the Moors, when they 
saw them scattered and separated from each other, turned 
suddenly back, with a loud cry of Allah illah Allah, which is 
their shout of battle, and surrounded such of the Scottish 
knights and squires as had advanced too hastily, and were 
dispersed from each other. 

In this new skirmish Douglas saw Sir William St. Clair 
of Boslyn fighting desperately, surrounded by many Moors, 
who were hewing at him with their sabers. “ Yonder worthy 
knight will be slain/’ Douglas said, “ unless he have instant 
help.” With that he galloped to his rescue, but presently was 
himself also surrounded by many Moors. When he found the 
enemy press so thick round him as to leave him no chance of 
escaping, the Earl took from his neck the Bruce’s heart, and 
speaking to it, as he would have done to the King had he 
been alive, — “ Pass first in fight,” he said, “ as thou were wont 
to do, and Douglas will follow thee, or die.” He then threw 
the King’s heart among the enemy, and rushing forward to 
the place where it fell, was there slain. His body was found 
lying above the silver case, as if it had been his last object 
to defend the Bruce’s heart. 

This Good Lord James of Douglas was one of the best 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


94 

and wisest soldiers that ever drew a sword. He was said to 
have fought in seventy battles, being beaten in thirteen, and 
victorious in fifty-seven. The English accused him of being 
cruel; and it is said that he had such a hatred of the English 
archers that when he made one of them prisoner, he would 
not dismiss him until he was either blinded of his right eye, 
or had the first finger of his right hand struck off. The Scot- 
tish historians say he was modest and gentle in time of peace, 
but had a very different countenance upon the day of battle. 
He was tall, strong, and well made, of a swarthy complexion, 
with dark hair, from which he was called the Black Douglas. 

ORIGIN OF THE NAME LOCKHART. 

Many of Douglas’s followers were slain in the battle in 
which he himself fell. The rest resolved not to proceed on 
their journey to Palestine, but to return to Scotland. Since 
the time of the Good Lord James, the Douglases have carried 
upon their shields a bloody heart, with a crown upon it, in 
memory of this expedition. In ancient times men painted 
such emblems on their shields that they might be known by 
them in battle, for their helmet hid their face. As men now 
no longer wear armor in battle, the devices, as they are called, 
belonging to particular families, are engraved upon their 
seals, or upon their silver plate, or painted upon their car- 
riages. 

Thus, for example, there was one of the brave knights who 
was in the company of Douglas, and was appointed to take 
charge of the Bruce’s heart homewards again, who was called 
Sir Simon Lockhard of Lee. He took afterwards for his 
device, and painted on his shield, a man’s heart, with a pad- 
lock upon it, in memory of Bruce’s heart, which was pad- 
locked in the silver case. For this reason men changed Sir 
Simon’s name from Lockhard to Lockheart, and all who are 
descended from Sir Simon are called Lockhart to this day. 


DEATH OF BRUCE AND THE GOOD LORD JAMES. 95 


DISCOVERY OF BRUCE’S REMAINS. 

Well, such of the Scottish knights as remained alive re- 
turned to their own country. They brought back the heart 
of the Bruce and the hones of the Good Lord James. These 
last were interred in the Church of St. Bride, where Thomas 
Dickson and Douglas held so terrible a Palm Sunday. The 
Bruce’s heart was buried below the high altar in Melrose 
Abbey. 1 As for his body, it was laid in the sepulcher in the 
midst of the Church of Dunfermline, 1 under a marble stone. 
But the church becoming afterwards ruinous, and the roof 
falling down with age, the monument was broken to pieces, 
and nobody could tell where it stood. 

But a few years ago [1818], when they were repairing the 
church at Dunfermline, and removing the rubbish, lo! they 
found fragments of the marble tomb of Bobert Bruce. Then 
they began to dig farther, thinking to discover the body of 
this celebrated monarch; and at length they came to the skele- 
ton of a tall man, and they knew it must be that of King 
Bobert, both as he was known to have been buried in a wind- 
ing sheet of cloth of gold, of which many fragments were 
found about the skeleton, and also because the breastbone ap- 
peared to have been sawed through, in order to take out the 
heart. 

So orders were sent from the King’s Court of Exchequer 
to guard the bones carefully, until a new tomb should be 
prepared, into which they were laid with profound respect. 
A great many gentlemen and ladies attended, and almost all 
the common people in the neighborhood; and as the church 
could not hold half the numbers, the people were allowed to 
pass through it, one after another, that each one, the poorest 
as well as the richest, might see all that remained of the great 
King Bobert Bruce, who restored the Scottish monarchy. 
Many people shed tears; for there was the wasted skull, which 

1 See map. 


96 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


once was the head that thought so wisely and boldly for his 
country’s deliverance; and there was the dry hone, which 
had once been the sturdy arm that killed Sir Henry de Bohun, 
between the two armies, at a single blow, on the evening 
before the battle of Bannockburn. 

It is more than five hundred years since the body of Bruce 
was first laid into the tomb; and how many, many millions 
of men have died since that time, whose bones could not be 
recognized, nor their names known, any more than those of 
inferior animals! It was a great thing to see that the wisdom, 
courage, and patriotism of a King could preserve him for 
such a long time in the memory of the people over whom he 
once reigned. But, then, you must remember that it is 
desirable to be remembered only for praiseworthy and patri- 
otic actions, such as those of Robert Bruce. It would be 
better for a prince to be forgotten like the meanest peasant 
than to be recollected for actions of tyranny or oppression. 


CHAPTER VII. 

THE GOODMAN OF BALLENGIECH. 

James V. [King of Scotland 1513-1542] had a custom of 
going about the country disguised as a private person, in order 
that he might hear complaints which might not otherwise 
reach his ears, and, perhaps, that he might enjoy amusements 
which he could not have partaken of in his avowed royal char- 
acter. This is also said to have been a custom of James IV., 
his father, and several adventures are related of what befell 
them on such occasions. 

When James V. travelled in disguise, he used a name which 
was known only to some of his principal nobility and at- 
tendants. He was called the Goodman (the tenant, that is) 
of Ballengiech. Ballengiech is a steep pass which leads down 


THE GOODMAN OF B ALLEN GIECH. 


97 


behind the castle of Stirling. Once upon a time, when the 
court was feasting in Stirling, the King sent for some venison 
from the neighboring hills. The deer were killed, and put 
on horses* backs to be transported to Stirling. Unluckily 
they had to pass the castle gates of Arnpryor, belonging to 
a chief of the Buchanans, who chanced to have a considerable 
number of guests with him. It was late, and the company 
were rather short of victuals. The chief, seeing so much fat 
venison passing his very door, seized on it; and to the protests 
of the keepers, who told him it belonged to King James, he 
answered insolently that if James was King in Scotland, he, 
Buchanan, was King in Kippen, this being the name of the 
district in which the castle of Arnpryor lay. 

On hearing what had happened, the King got on horseback, 
and rode instantly from Stirling to Buchanan’s house, where 
he found a strong, tierce-looking Highlander, with an ax on 
his shoulder, standing sentinel at the door. This grim warder 
refused the King admittance, saying that the laird of Arn- 
pryor was at dinner and would not be disturbed. “ Yet go 
up to the company, my good friend,” said the King, “and tell 
him that the Goodman of Ballengiech is come to feast with 
the King of Kippen.” The porter went grumbling into the 
house, and told his master that there was a fellow with a red 
beard at {he gate, who called himself the Goodman of Ballen- 
giech, who said he was come to dine with the King of Kippen. 

As soon as Buchanan heard these words, he knew that the 
King was come in person, and hastened down to kneel at 
James’s feet, and to ask forgiveness for his insolent behavior. 
But the King, who meant only to give him a fright, forgave 
him freely, and, going into the castle, feasted on his own 
venison which Buchanan had intercepted. Buchanan of Arn- 
pryor was ever afterwards called the King of Kippen. 

Upon another occasion, King James, being alone and in 
disguise, fell into a quarrel with some gypsies, or other 
vagrants, and was assaulted by four or five of them. This 

7 


98 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


chanced to be very near the bridge of Cramond ; 1 so the 
King got on the bridge, which, as it was high and narrow, 
enabled him to defend himself with, his sword against the 
number of persons by whom he was attacked. There was a 
poor man thrashing corn in a barn near by, who came out on 
hearing the noise of the scuffle, and seeing one man defending 
himself against numbers, gallantly took the King’s part with 
his flail, to such good purpose that the gypsies were obliged 
to fly. The husbandman then took the King into the barn, 
brought him a towel and water to wash the blood from his 
face and hands, and finally walked with him a little way 
towards Edinburgh, in case he should be again attacked. 

On the way, the King asked his companion what and who 
he was. The laborer answered that his name was John 
Howieson, and that he was a bondsman on the farm of Brae- 
head, near Cramond, which belonged to the King of Scotland. 
James then asked the poor man if there was any wish in the 
world which he would particularly desire should be gratified; 
and honest John confessed he should think himself the hap- 
piest man in Scotland were he but proprietor of the farm on 
which he wrought as a laborer. He then asked the King, in 
turn, who lie was; and James replied, as usual, that he was the 
Goodman of Ballengiech, a poor man who had a small ap- 
pointment about the King’s palace ; 2 but he added that if 
John Howieson would come to see him on the next Sunday, 
he would endeavor to repay his manful assistance, and, at 
least, give him the pleasure of seeing the royal apartments. 

John put on his best clothes, as you may suppose, and 
appearing at a postern gate of the palace, inquired for the 
Goodman of Ballengiech. The King had given orders that 
he should be admitted; and John found his friend, the good- 
man, in the same disguise which he had formerly worn. The 
King, still preserving the character of an inferior officer of the 
household, conducted John Howieson from one apartment 

1 near Edinburgh. 3 in Edinburgh ; called Holyrood Palace. 


THE GOODMAN OF B ALLEN GIECH. 


99 


of the palace to another, and was amused with his wonder and 
his remarks. 

At length, James asked his visitor if he should like to see 
the King, to which John replied, nothing would delight him 
so much, if he could do so without giving offence. The 
Goodman of Ballengiech, of course, undertook that the King 
would not he angry. “ But,” said John, “ how am I to know 
his Grace from the nobles who will he all about him?” — 
“ Easily,” replied his companion; “ all the others will be un- 
covered — the King alone will wear his hat or bonnet.” 

So speaking, King James introduced the countryman into 
a great hall, which was filled by the nobility and officers of 
the crown. John was a little frightened, and draw close to 
his attendant; but was still unable to distinguish the King. 
“I told you that you should know him by his wearing his 
hat,” said the conductor. “ Then,” said John, after he had 
again looked around the room, “ it must be either you or me, 
for all but us two are bareheaded.” 

The King laughed at John’s fancy; and that the good yeo- 
man might have occasion for mirth also, he made him a 
present of the farm of Braehead, on condition that John 
Howieson, or his successors, should be ready to present an 
ewer and basin for the King to wash his hands, when his 
Majesty should come to Holyrood Palace, or should pass the 
bridge of Cramond. Accordingly, in the year 1822, when 
George IV. 1 came to Scotland, the descendant of John Howie- 
son of Braehead, who still possesses the estate which was given 
to his ancestor, appeared at a solemn festival, and offered his 
Majesty water from a silver ewer, that he might perform the 
service by which he held his lands. 

i King of England. 


100 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


CHAPTEK VIII. 

WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. 

In the seventeenth century the belief in witches and 
witchcraft was general, and the prosecutions, especially in 
Scotland, were very frequent. King' James VI ., 1 who often 
turned the learning he had acquired to a very idle use, was 
at the trouble to write a treatise against witchcraft, as he 
composed another against smoking tobacco. The Presby- 
terian clergy gave full acceptation to his opinion on the first 
point of doctrine, and very many persons were put to death 
as guilty of this imaginary crime. 

I must, however, observe that some of those executed for 
witchcraft well deserved their fate. Impostors of both sexes 
were found, who deluded simple people by pretending an in- 
tercourse with supernatural powers, and furnished those who 
consulted them with potions, for the purpose of revenging ( 
themselves on their enemies, which were in fact poisonous 
compounds sure to prove fatal to those who partook of them. 

Among many other instances, I may mention that of a lady 
of high rank, the second wife of a northern earl, who, being 
desirous of destroying her husband’s eldest son by the former 
marriage, in order that her own son might succeed to the 
father’s title and estate, procured drugs to effect her purpose i 
from a Highland woman, who pretended to be a witch or sor- j 
ceress. The fatal ingredients were mixed with ale, and set \ 
aside by the wicked countess, to be given to her victim on the > 
first fitting opportunity. 

But Heaven disappointed her purpose, and, at the same 
time, inflicted on her a dreadful punishment. Her own son, | 
for whose advantage she meditated this horrible crime, return- 
ing fatigued and thirsty from hunting, lighted by chance on 

} He was James I. of England. 


WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. 


101 


this fatal cup of liquor, drank it without hesitation, and died 
in consequence. The wretched mixer of the poison was tried 
and executed; but, although no one could he sorry that the 
agent in such a deed was brought to punishment, it is clear 
she deserved death, not as a witch, hut as one who was an 
accomplice in murder by poison. 

But most of the poor creatures who suffered death for 
witchcraft were aged persons, usually unprotected females, 
living alone, in a poor and miserable condition, and disposed, 
from the peevishness of age and infirmity, to rail against or 
desire evil to neighbors by whom they were abused or slighted. 
When such unhappy persons had unwittingly given vent to 
anger in bad wishes or curses, if a child fell sick, a horse be- 
came lame, a bullock died, or any other misfortune chanced 
in the family against which the ill-will had been expressed, 
it subjected the utterer instantly to the charge of witchcraft, 
and was received by judges and jury as a strong proof of guilt. 
If, in addition to this, the miserable creature had, by the 
oddity of her manners, the crossness of her temper, the habit 
of speaking to herself, or any other signs of the dotage which 
attends comfortless old age and poverty, attracted the sus- 
picions of her neighbors, she was then said to have been held 
and reputed a witch, and was rarely permitted to escape being 
burnt to death at the stake. 

It was equally fatal for an aged person of the lower ranks 
if, as was frequently the case, she conceived herself to possess 
any peculiar receipt or charm for curing diseases, either by the 
application of medicines, of which she had acquired the 
secret, or by repeating words, or using spells and charms, 
which the superstition of the time supposed to have the power 
of curing diseases that were beyond the skill of medical men. 

Such a person was accounted a white witch; one who em- 
ployed her skill for the benefit, not the harm, of her fellow- 
creatures. But still she was a sorceress, and, as such, was 
liable to be brought to the stake. A doctress of this kind was 


102 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


equally exposed to a like charge, whether her patient died or 
recovered; and she was, according to circumstances, con- 
demned for using sorcery whether to cure or to kill. Her 
allegation that she had received the secret from family tradi- 
tion, or from any other source, was not admitted as a defence; 
and she was doomed to death with as little hesitation for 
having attempted to cure by mysterious and unlawful means, 
as if she had been charged, as in the instance already given, 
with having assisted to commit murder. 

The following example of such a case is worthy of notice. 
It rests pn tradition, hut is very likely to be true. An emi- 
nent English judge was travelling the circuit when an old 
woman was brought before him for using a spell to cure 
dimness of sight, by hanging a clew of yarn round the neck 
of the patient. Marvellous things were told by the witnesses 
of the cures which this spell had performed on patients far 
beyond the reach of ordinary medicine. The poor woman 
made no other defence than by protesting that if there was 
any witchcraft in the ball of yarn, she knew nothing of it. 
It had been given her, she said, thirty years before, by a 
young Oxford 1 student, for the cure of one of her own family, 
who having used it with advantage for a disorder in her eyes, 
she had seen no harm in lending it for relief of others who 
labored under similar infirmity, or in accepting a small gra- 
tuity for doing so. 

Her defence was little attended to by the jury; but the 
judge was much agitated. He asked the woman where she 
resided when she obtained possession of this valuable relic. 
She gave the name of a village, in which she had in former 
times kept a petty alehouse. He then looked at the clew very 
earnestly, and at length addressed the jury. “ Gentlemen,” 
he said, “ we are on the point of committing a great injustice 
to this poor old woman; and to prevent it, I must publicly 
confess a piece of early folly, which does me no honor. At 

1 Oxford University, England, 


WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. 


103 


the time this poor creature speaks of, I was at college, leading 
an idle and careless life, which, had I not been given grace 
to correct it, must have made it highly improbable that ever 
I should have attained my present situation. I chanced to 
remain for a day and night in this woman’s alehouse, without 
having money to pay my bill. Not knowing what to do, and 
seeing her much occupied with a child who had weak eyes, I 
had the meanness to pretend that I could write out a spell 
that would mend her daughter’s sight, if she would accept it 
instead of her bill. The ignorant woman readily agreed; and 
I scrawled some figures on a piece of parchment, and added 
two lines of nonsensical rhyme, and caused her to make it up 
in that clew which has so nearly cost her her life. To prove 
the truth of this, let the yarn be unwound, and you may 
judge of the efficacy of the spell.” 

The clew was unwound accordingly; and the following 
pithy couplet was found on the enclosed bit of parchment: 

“ The devil scratch out both thine eyes, 

And spit into the holes likewise.” 

It was evident that those who were cured by such a spell, 
must have been indebted to nature, with some assistance, per- 
haps, from imagination. But the users of such charms were 
not always so lucky as to light upon the person who drew 
them up; and doubtless many innocent and unfortunate crea- 
tures were executed, as the poor alewife would have been, had 
she not lighted upon her former customer in the unexpected 
character of her judge. 

Another old woman is said to have cured many cattle of the 
murrain by a repetition of a certain verse. The fee which 
she required was a loaf of bread and a silver penny; and when 
she was commanded to reveal the magical verses which 
wrought such wonders, they were found to be the following 
jest on the credulity of her customers: 

“ My loaf in my lap, and my penny in my purse, 

Thou art never the better, and I never the worse.” 


104 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


It was not medicine only which witchery was supposed to 
mingle with; hut any remarkable degree of skill in an art or 
craft subjected those who possessed it to similar suspicion. 
Thus it was a dangerous thing to possess more thriving cows 
than those of the neighborhood, though their superiority was 
attained merely by paying greater attention to feeding and 
cleaning the animals. It was often an article of suspicion 
that a woman had spun considerably more thread than her 
less laborious neighbors chose to think could be accomplished 
by ordinary industry. 

Other- charges, the most ridiculous and improbable, were 
brought against those suspected of witchcraft. They were 
supposed to have power, by going through some absurd and 
impious ceremony, to summon to their presence the Author of 
Evil, who appeared in some mean or absurd shape, and, in 
return for renouncing their salvation, gave them the power 
of avenging themselves on their enemies. Sometimes, indeed, 
they were said to obtain from him the power of flying through 
the air on broomsticks, when the Foul Fiend gave public 
parties. The* accounts given of the ceremonies practiced on 
such occasions are equally disgusting and vulgar, totally 
foreign to any idea we can have of a spiritual nature, and only 
fit to be invented and believed by the most ignorant and 
brutal of the human species. 

Another of these absurdities was the belief that the evil 
spirits would attend if they were invoked with certain profane 
and blasphemous ceremonies, such as reading the Lord’s 
Prayer backwards, or the like; and would then tell the future 
fortunes of those who had raised them, as it was called, or 
inform them what was become of articles which had been 
lost or stolen. Stories are told of such exploits by grave 
authors, which are to the full as ridiculous as, and indeed 
more so than, anything that is to be found in fairy tales 
invented for the amusement of children. And for all this 
incredible nonsense unfortunate creatures were imprisoned, 


WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. 


105 


tortured, and finally burnt alive, by the sentence of their 
judges. 

It is strange to find that the persons accused of this imagi- 
. nary crime in most casess paved the way for their own con- 
demnation, by confessing and admitting the truth of all the 
. monstrous absurdities which were charged against them by 
their accusers. But this can be accounted for. 

- Many of these poor creatures were crazy, and infirm in 
mind as well as bodjr; and, hearing themselves charged with 
such monstrous enormities by those whom they accounted 
wise and learned, became half persuaded of their own guilt, 
and assented to all the nonsensical questions which were put 
to them. But this was not all. Very many made these con- 
fessions under the influence of torture, which was applied to 
them with cruel severity. 

It is true, the ordinary courts of justice in Scotland had not 
the power of examining criminals under torture, a privilege 
which was reserved for the King’s privy-council . 1 But this 
was a slight protection; for witches were seldom tried before 
the ordinary criminal courts, because the judges and lawyers, 
though they could not deny the existence of a crime for which 
the law had assigned a punishment, yet showed a degree of 
.unbelief respecting witchcraft which was supposed frequently 
to lead to the escape of those accused of this unpopular crime. 

To avoid the ordinary jurisdiction of the justiciary, and 
other regular criminal jurisdictions, the trial of witchcraft in 
the provinces was usually brought before commissioners ap- 
pointed by the privy-council. These commissioners were 
commonly country gentlemen and clergymen, who, from 
ignorance on the one side, misdirected learning on the other, 
and bigotry on both, were as eager in the prosecution as the 
vulgar could desire. By their commission they had the power 


1 privy-council, the principal council of inquire into offences against the govern- 
the king (or queen) of England, by whom ment, and commit the offenders to prison 
its members are chosen. It has power to to be dealt with according to law. 


106 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


of torture, and employed it unscrupulously, usually calling in 
to their assistance a witch-finder; a fellow, that is, who made 
money by pretending to have peculiar art and excellence in 
discovering these offenders, and who sometimes undertook to 
rid a parish or township of witches at so much a head, as if 
they had been foxes, wild-cats, or other vermin. 

These detestable impostors directed the process of the tor- 
ture, which frequently consisted in keeping the aged and 
weary beings from sleep, and compelling them to walk up and 
down their prison, whenever they began to close their eyes, 
and in running needles into their flesh, under pretence of dis- 
covering a mark, which the witch-finders affirmed the devil 
had impressed on their skin, in token that they were his 
property and subjects. It is no wonder that wretched crea- 
tures, driven mad by pain and want of sleep, confessed any- 
thing whatever to obtain a moment’s relief, though they were 
afterwards to die for it. 

But besides the imbecility of such victims, and the torture 
to which they were subjected, shame and weariness of life 
often caused their pleading guilty to accusations in them- 
selves absurd and impossible. You must consider that the 
persons accused of witchcraft were almost always held guilty 
by the public and by their neighbors, and that if the court 
scrupled to condemn them, it was a common thing for the 
mob to take the execution into their own hands, and duck 
the unhappy wretches to death, or otherwise destroy them. 
The fear of such a fate might determine many of the accused, 
even though they were in their sound mind, and uncon- 
strained by bodily torture, to plead guilty at once, and rather 
lose their wretched life by the sentence of the law than expose 
themselves to the fury of the prejudiced multitude. A singu- 
lar story is told to this effect. 

An old woman and her daughter were tried as witches at 
Haddington. The principal evidence of the crime was that, 
though miserably poor, the two females had contrived to look 


WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. 


107 


“fresh and fair” during the progress of a terrible famine 
which reduced even the better classes to straits, and brought 
all poor people to the point of starving; while, during the 
universal distress, these two women lived on in their usual 
way, and never either begged for assistance or seemed to suffer 
by the general calamity. The jury were perfectly satisfied 
that this could not take place by any natural means; and, as 
the accused persons, on undergoing the discipline of one Kin- 
caid, a witch-finder, readily admitted all that was asked about 
their intercourse with the devil, the jury, on their confession, 
brought them in guilty of witchcraft without hesitation. 

The King’s Advocate, Sir George Mackenzie, was a doubter 
on the subject of witchcraft. He visited the women in 
private, and urged them to tell the real truth. They con- 
tinued at first to maintain the story they had given in their 
confession. But the Advocate, perceiving them to he women 
of more sense than ordinary, urged upon them the crime of 
causing their own death, by persisting in accusing themselves 
of impossibilities, and promised them life and protection, 
providing they would unfold the true secret which they used 
for their support. 

The poor women looked wistfully on each other, like people 
that were in perplexity. At length, the mother said, “ You 
are very good, my lord, and I daresay your power is very great, 
hut you cannot he of use to my daughter and me. If you 
were to set us at liberty from the bar, you could not free us 
from the suspicion of being witches. As soon as we return to 
our hut, we shall he welcomed by the violence and abuse of 
all our neighbors, who, if they do not heat our brains out, or 
drown us on the spot, will retain hatred and malice against 
us, which will he shown on every occasion, and make our life 
so miserable that we have made up our minds to prefer death 
at once.” 

“ Do not he afraid of your neighbors,” said the Advocate. 
“ If you will trust your secret with me, I will take care of you 


108 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


for the rest of your lives, and send you to an estate of mine in 
the north, where nobody can know anything of your history, 
and where, indeed, the people’s ideas are such that, if they 
even thought you witches, they would rather regard you with 
fear and respect than hatred.” 

The women, moved hy his promises, told him that, if he 
would cause to be removed an old empty trunk which stood in 
the corner of their hut, and dig the earth where he saw it had 
been stirred, he would find the secret hy means of which they 
had been supported through the famine. They declared, at 
the same time, that they were totally innocent of any unlaw- 
ful arts, such as had been imputed to them, and which they 
had confessed in their despair. Sir George Mackenzie has- 
tened to examine the spot, and found concealed in the earth 
two firkins of salted snails, one of them nearly empty. On 
this strange food the poor women had been nourished during 
the famine. The Advocate was as good as his word; and the 
story shows how little weight is to he laid on the frequent 
confessions of the party in cases of witchcraft. 

As this story is only traditional, I will mention two others 
of the same kind, to which I can give a precise date. 

The first of these instances regards a woman of rank, much 
superior to those who were usually accused of this imaginary 
crime. She was sister of Sir J ohn Henderson of Fordel, and 
wife to the landlord of Pittardo, in Fife. Notwithstanding 
her honorable birth and connections, this unfortunate matron 
was, in the year 1649, imprisoned in the common jail of Edin- 
burgh, from the month of July till the middle of the month 
of December, when she was found dead, with every symptom 
of poison. Undoubtedly the infamy of the charge, and the 
sense that it must destroy her character and disgrace her 
family, was the cause which instigated her to commit suicide. 

The same sentiment which drove this poor lady to her death 
was expressed hy a female, young and handsome, executed at 
Paisley in 1697, in the following short answer to some of her 


WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. 


109 


friends, who were blaming her for not being sufficiently ac- 
tive in defending herself upon her trial. “ They have taken 
away my character,” she said, “ and my life is not worth 
preserving.” 

But the most affecting instance of such a confession being 
made, and persisted in to the last, by an innocent person, is 
recorded by one who was a diligent collector of witch stories, 
and a faithful believer in them. He says that in the village 
of Lauder there was a certain woman accused of witchcraft, 
who for a long time denied her guilt. At length, when all her 
companions in prison had been removed, and were appointed 
for execution, and she herself about to be left to total soli- 
tude, the poor* creature became weary of life, and made a false 
confession, avowing that she was guilty of certain facts, 
which, in the opinion of the times, amounted to witchcraft. 
She, therefore, made it her petition that she should be put 
to death with the others on the day appointed for their 
execution. 

Her clergyman and others, on considering this young 
woman’s particular case, entertained, for once, some doubts 
that her confession was sincere, and remonstrated strongly 
with her upon the wickedness of causing her own death by a 
false avowal of guilt. But as she stubbornly adhered to her 
confession, she was- condemned, and appointed to be executed 
with the rest, as she had so earnestly desired. 

Being carried forth to the place of execution, she remained 
silent during the first, second, and third prayer, and then 
perceiving that there remained no more but to rise and go to 
the stake, she lifted up her body, and with a loud voice cried 
out, “ How, all you that see me this day, know that I am now 
to die as a witch, by my own confession: and I free all men, 
especially the ministers and magistrates, of the guilt of my 
blood. I take it wholly upon myself— my blood be upon my 
own head; and, as I must make answer to the God of Heaven 
presently, I declare I am as free of witchcraft as any child; 


110 


TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. 


but being accused by a malicious woman, and put in prison 
under the name of a witch, — disowned by my husband and 
friends, — and seeing no ground of hope of my coming out 
of prison, or ever coming in credit again, through the tempta- 
tion of the devil I made up that confession, on purpose to de- 
stroy my own life, being weary of it, and choosing rather to 
die than live.” — And so she died. 

It was remarkable that the number of supposed witches 
seemed to increase in proportion to the increase of punish- 
ment. On the 22d of May, 1650, the Scottish Parliament 
named a committee for inquiry into the cases of no less than 
fifty-four witches, with power to grant commissions to pro- 
ceed with their trial, condemnation, and execution. 

Wiser and better views on the subject began to prevail in 
the end of the seventeenth century, and capital prosecutions 
for this imaginary crime were seen to decrease. The last 
instance of execution for witchcraft took place in the remot' 
province of Sutherland in 1722, under the direction of • 
ignorant provincial judge, who was censured by his super 
for the proceeding. The victim was an old woman in her 
dotage, so silly that she was delighted to warm her wrin 
hands at the fire which was to consume her; and who, v 
they were preparing for her execution, repeatedly said tin St 
good a blaze, and so many neighbors gathered round it, made 
the most cheerful sight she had seen for many years! 

The laws against witchcraft, both in England and Scotland, 
were abolished; and persons who pretend to fortune-telling, 
the use of spells, or similar mysterious feats of skill, are now 
punished as common knaves and impostors. Since this has 
been the case no one has ever heard of witches or witchcraft, 
even among the most ignorant of the vulgar; so that the crime 
must have been entirely imaginary, since it ceased to exist so 
soon as men ceased to hunt it out for punishment. 


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